Not Every Story Ends Happily Ever After
by chariots99
Summary: SEQUEL TO FEARLESS. Another year, and another mission for MI6's youngest agent. But this mission will take every bit of strength and courage he has to complete. Will his story end 'happily ever after?
1. Training the Leaders of Tomorrow

**I'M BACK PEOPLES! NOW GO AHEAD AND ENJOY WHAT SHOULD HOPEFULLY BE AN EVEN MORE AWESOMER STORY THAN **_**FEARLESS!**_

**Oh, and for people who don't know, this is the ****FOURTH story**** after **_**Not for the Faint Hearted, What Doesn't Kill You Will Inevitably Try Again**_** and **_**Fearless**_** (in that order). ****PLEASE read the other three first,**** otherwise you may have NO IDEA what is going on in this story (have you noticed I love CAPITALISING key words?)!**

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter One**

Just in case you didn't pay attention to the author's notes: this story is a FOURQUEL! (If that's even a word...)

Alex Rider opened his eyes tiredly, rubbing the sleep out of them, before rolling over in bed and turning off his annoyingly loud alarm. Down the hallway, he could hear the sound of water running, signifying that Jack Starbright was already up and ready. With a sigh, the blonde boy got out of bed, pulled some clothes out of his closet at random, and left his room.

He entered the kitchen with a yawn, before making himself some toast and two cups of coffee, one of which would be drunk by Jack when she got downstairs. Alex sat down at the table with a huff, hungrily devouring his toast.

Today was a rather special day. A sad kind of special. Today marked the four year anniversary when sixteen year old Alex had been kissed by a stunning Australian girl with a broken arm. Now, at the age of twenty, Alex Rider had long since completed his GCSEs and graduated from Brooklands (yes, he actually _managed_ to graduate – MI6 had left him alone long enough to allow that). To those who had known about Alex's double life when he'd been in school, the newly acquired bruises and scars currently scattered across his body would've been no surprise.

Because, now it was officially MI6 Agent Alex Rider who was sitting in the kitchen, devouring his toast.

For weeks after the Aussie agent had left, Alex had done nothing but thought about the girl's parting words of advice about his future. _No matter how small, you still have somewhat of a say in your life..._But eventually, he'd made his fateful choice. Because he knew that, from the day MI6 had first blackmailed him into joining, he would one day die as a spy.

It was in his blood.

And the more he thought about, the more he accepted it. Sure, he hated being a spy. But not a single person, not even himself, could say that he wasn't good at his job. It was something he'd been trained to do. He'd always wanted to help people, to make the world a better place. If that meant that he had to become a spy, then so be it. Plus his life was already pretty much screwed up as it was. Better him then someone else who could possibly be able to lead a normal life.

"Good morning, Alex," Jack interrupted his daydreaming as she came into the kitchen, reaching for her cup of coffee, her hair still wet from her shower.

"Hey Jack," Alex grinned.

It had taken months of sweet talking and persuasion before Jack had accepted the fact that Alex went and joined MI6. After that though, the American had realised that the best thing she could do was to provide the MI6 agent with support, encouragement, and a meal on the table at the odd times that he returned from missions.

"Do you have to go down to the Bank today?"

"Yeah," Alex said, wrinkling his nose in disgust, "_Paperwork_. Sometimes, I wish that I was still underage, then I wouldn't have to deal with that enormous mountain they call 'protocol reports'."

"Well sweetie, that's life for you," Jack said in a sympathetic manner, ruffling the boy's blonde hair. She was much happier when he was bored to death filling in paperwork, rather than having him risk his life stopping maniacs and psychopaths.

Almost as soon as Alex finished his breakfast, a series of car horns beeped from outside his house. Yelling a hurried goodbye to Jack the twenty year old ran out the door, pausing only long enough to grab his coat from its hook. He pulled on the dark blue coat while he hurried outside into the biting cold.

"Hey," he breathed as he got into the car. Agent Rose Allende turned around from the driver's seat.

"Good morning Alex! Ready for more paperwork?" She asked with a grin.

"Don't tease me," Alex huffed. As Rose's protégée, Alex had to endure surviving through his own paperwork, as well as the mountains that Rose decide to make him do. According to the woman, it was "character building". According to Alex, it was "legalised torture".

Rose drove off towards the Bank, not really bothering with being careful on the still frozen roads. Alex just rolled his eyes; she hadn't gotten them killed yet, but at this rate Rose's driving was probably worse than all his missions put together. They reached the Bank in record time, which was saying something, and once Rose had parked her car in the 'reserved' section, they both got back out into the freezing cold and into the lobby of the bank.

Discreetly waving their clearances in the direction of the receptionist, they both entered the lift. Alex pressed the floor button for both of them, since they would be working in the same office. With a rather pleasant '_going up',_ the lift began ascending. A _ding_ later and the doors slid open.

"Another day in the office," Rose sighed.

"Another day of boredom," Alex added, opening the door to a mountainous pile of paperwork. The two agents couldn't help themselves; they both let out groans of frustration before reluctantly stationing themselves on their respective sides of the table and cutting the pile into thirds. Rose pulled one third of the folders towards her while Alex dealt with the remaining two thirds.

"Aww, you two stuck with paperwork again? That's just too bad," a mocking voice said from the doorway.

Without missing a beat, without even bothering to spin around and face the intruder, Rose snapped, "Shut it Daniels."

Agent Ben Daniels smirked, nodding a greeting at Alex before turning back to his former protégée. "You know I'm not going to give up teasing rights just 'cause you tell me to. And, it's going to take me a while to get over my promotion. So...deal with it Allende, because you wish you were me."

"Why the hell would I wish to be a stuck-up, arrogant, ignorant, annoying jerk?"

Ben shook his head. Even though Rose's back was towards him, he could still hear the smile in her voice. Alex just rolled his eyes. The two seriously had the same argument every single _bloody_ day, and it was really getting on his nerves.

"Well, just to give you two the heads up, there's a mission coming up which Blunt had you two in mind for," Ben said, leaning against the doorframe.

"You know," Rose said, mock disappointment in her voice, "I don't think you're supposed to use your higher clearance to look these things up for us. It just might be, oh I don't know, _illegal_."

Ben shrugged. "It's been a while since you were sent out, though Alex there only just came back. Just letting you know to be prepared."

Rose sighed. "Daniels, I spent the last week and a half at the freakin' SAS camp, training with ignorant dim-wits who seem to give me an extra hard time than the rest of the agents just for the hell of it. I'm as prepared as I could possibly be without killing myself."

Ben snorted. "Since you're in such a pleasant mood, I believe I'm going to just leave you to your paperwork now, while I go and get some newbie debriefed." With a cheerful wave to Alex, who nodded in return, the MI6 agent turned and left.

"I'm seriously starting to hate this," Rose muttered, opening one of the files, taking some notes, and signing on the front before putting it into a separate stack, "It's like Blunt purposely bores me to death, just so I jump at the chance of going out and risking my life."

"You know," Alex said as he signed his own file, "I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually his plan."

"I'll let you know if I ever find out," a dry voice interrupted them, causing the two agents to start and spin to face the door.

Mrs Tulip Jones stood just outside their office, struggling to conceal her amusement. Tucked under her arm were about three relatively thick folders, and in one hand held a cup of coffee, no doubt specially ordered for Mr Blunt. The strong smell of peppermint wafted into the room, though after so many years spent around the woman, Alex had long gotten used to the smell.

"Mrs Jones," Rose said respectively, standing from her chair. Alex followed suit.

"Agent Allende, Agent Rider," Mrs Jones acknowledged, "If you could both follow me." And so saying, the woman turned and left. Alex and Rose exchanged a look before hastening to follow MI6's second in command.

Unsurprisingly, the woman led the two to the closed door of Mr Blunt's office. In the years in which he'd been forced to work for MI6, Alex had grown to hate that door. Now however, he couldn't help the small feeling of excitement which he was reluctantly acknowledging. The truth was that, simply, times change.

"Mr Blunt," Rose said respectively as the three entered. She and Alex sat down in the chairs opposite Mr Blunt, while Mrs Jones carefully set the files and coffee in front of her boss, before going to stand beside him.

"Agent Allende, Agent Rider," Mr Blunt said in his usual impassive way, "A rather delicate situation has risen over in the United States, and the CIA has called in for a..._favour_," the head of the Special Operations emphasised the last word with a slight trace of a sneer, before it was vanished back into impassiveness again. "We need agents whom we can trust to get the job done right."

Rose and Alex nodded. This was the same speech the man seemed to use every time he sent the two out on missions.

"There is a special private boarding school run independently from the government, known as Bayswater High," Mrs Jones said, taking over the explaining, "The President allows it due to the fact that every year the school turns out brilliant and bright eighteen-year olds. The school doesn't follow the State curriculum in any way, and only allows exceptionally bright or talented students in.

"Every year, the school runs a sort of winter camp, where they invite the best and brightest in the world to give lectures to, under the motto 'Training the Leaders of Tomorrow'. They invite several guest lecturers from around the world too, though they do have a fixed staffing board.

"This year however, one of the guest lecturers the school decided to invite is Raymond Hobbs. The FBI ran a background search on the man, and found that his true name is James Olsen, an ex-CIA agent. Mr Olsen's ex-specialty was covert weaponry, and at the lecture he will apparently be speaking about electronics and such. He was fired from the CIA last year for incorrect use of force during interrogation."

"Meaning that he tortured his suspects so much they all lost their sanity," Rose muttered. Mrs Jones nodded her head in confirmation, before continuing her debriefing.

"Our problem is that with his background and known tendency to be unstable at the best of times, it is not really a good idea for the man to be lecturing to an entire auditorium of children. The FBI has so far been unsuccessful in their attempts to dissuade Bayswater High from dropping that lecturer. The CIA can't do anything about him as they are not linked to Bayswater and thus have no control over the school. Which is why they've now called in this favour.

"Your job is to get inside that school and make sure that the man can't do anything he's not supposed to. Like seek revenge against his agency by holding the entire camp hostage. Alex, this one is all down to you. You're the only agent who would be able to infiltrate the teenage part of the camp without raising suspicion. If you want to back out, do so now. If not, we'll begin negotiations for your backup team," Mrs Jones concluded, looking over at the silent boy.

Alex stared back at her, though his mind had already drifted away from reality. It was currently calculating all the pros and cons of the mission, and the survival rate. Well, if he assumed that the man would take the camp hostage, which he probably will, then he was bound to have to save someone from dying. If the man only took a few teens hostage, the end result would probably be the same...

"I'll do it," Alex said, "But I just have one question. This isn't going to turn out like what happened at Point Blanc Academy is it?"

"Not a chance," Mrs Jones said with a hint of a smile, "We know for a fact that none of the guest lecturers, well aside from Mr Olsen, or Mr Hobbs as you should now call him, have any inclination to take over the world. You'll be safe from them."

Alex sighed in relief. "So, do I get a new name or something?"

Mrs Jones nodded. "You will be playing the nephew of one of the professors, who will in turn be one of our agents. You are now John Saunders, a rather bright spark already at university level. Here's the full details," she added, sliding across a folder to Alex.

"So, what do I do?" Rose asked.

"You'll be part of the backup team," Mr Blunt said, "Should anything go wrong, I expect you to be in there _before_ any buildings can be blown up, or any lives are taken. Oh, Agent Allende, I'm making you the leader."

Rose's eyebrows shot up. "Me? But...but, what about Ben-I mean Agent Daniels?"

"Agent Daniels has a slightly different role to play in this mission. He'll be coming in any moment now to take his full briefing." Right on cue, the door opened and Ben Daniel's walked in. He grinned at Alex and Rose before nodding politely in the direction of his bosses.

"Alex, meet Peter Saunders, Professor of Genetics at the University of Oxford."

_Well, that seems like a pretty good place to stop chapter one._

_So, what did you all think of it? Does it seem like an exciting start, or were you all sleep by the end?_

_Lol, now I've set a story in three main countries: Australia, England, and now the USA...maybe next I should have one in China or something? _

_**IMPORTANT!**__ Okay, what do you call football(England) or soccer(Australia) in the United States?_

_Okay, now that that's done...I'll update ASAP._

_Love Chariots99_


	2. Tap Tap Revenge

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter Two**

"I wish you didn't have to go so soon," Jack said as she helped Alex pack for America, "It feels like you only just came back."

"I know, but this is really important," Alex said placidly.

"But still...it really does feel like you only just came back..."

The two lapsed into silence. They seemed to have this talk every time Alex was sent off on a new mission, which was often enough that it has become a sort of tradition.

"Now you be careful," Jack said, helping Alex carry his bags downstairs, "I don't want to spend any more time in a hospital waiting room. Look after yourself properly. Don't forget to eat fresh fruit every day. No, don't look at me like that, you know they're good for you."

Alex sighed. "I know Jack."

Outside the house, a sleek looking black car was already waiting for him. Alex gave Jack a tight hug, before saying goodbye and running out into the cold. Jack's voice trailed out after him:

"Good luck, Alex!"

The MI6 agent opened the door, before forcefully shoving his bag into the car and getting in after it, ignoring the grumbled protests from those already in the car.

"Hello Alex," Ben greeted from the driver's seat, starting the car and driving off towards the airport.

"Hey Ben, Rose," Alex said. Rose turned around from the passenger seat with a broad grin.

"Hey Alex. You want a cookie?" She asked, holding out a very large chocolate chipped cookie.

"Sure, thanks!" Alex grabbed the cookie, sent Rose a smile, and took a huge bite from it.

"Hey! How come he gets one?" A new voice spoke.

It was only then that Alex realised there were more people in the car than just him, Ben Daniels and Rose Allende. In fact, there were four more men, three of them staring at him with hunger in their eyes, and the last fast asleep, his head leaning against the window.

"Eagle!" Alex exclaimed, "Snake, Shark! What are you guys doing here?"

The three awake members of K-Unit grinned at him, before saying simultaneously, "We're your backup team."

"It's freaky when you guys do that, you know?" Ben asked from the driver's seat.

"We know," Eagle, Snake and Shark chorused together, "That's why we do it."

Alex raised an eyebrow as Rose dissolved into fits of laughter, "I don't even want to know what you three do during your spare time."

"I don't think you want to know either." Alex, Eagle, Snake and Shark spun around to see Wolf wide awake and staring his team mates with a smirk.

"Wolfie! Glad that you could rejoin us in the realm of the conscious!" Ben greeted.

"Fox, if it weren't for the fact that you are no longer on my team, I'd kill you for calling me that."

"Aww, Wolfie doesn't like his code name," Eagle cooed, before recoiling from the glare that was sent his way, "Jeez Wolf, I was just joking."

Wolf just rolled his eyes.

As the members of K-Unit engaged in some relaxed bickering, Alex took the opportunity to quickly finish off his cookie. Agent Allende had figured out what he was doing, for she turned back to Alex with a grin and wink, but K-Unit were too involved with their impromptu argument to take any notice of the cookie that had held their attention not so long ago.

They arrived at the airport not long afterwards. K-Unit took care of everyone's bags, while Alex, Ben and Rose went to check them in. Due to their special status as government operatives, they pretty much had their choice of seats on the entire plane. The seven of them had decided before hand that they would sit in the Economy Class; less people stared at you that way.

"Here're your tickets!" Rose announced, handing out the tickets she held to their respective owners, before leading them all to the boarding gates, "And if anyone makes a fuss on the plane, they will not find themselves waking up the next morning. I'm in no mood to deal with the annoyance of men. Am I understood?"

"Yes Rose," K-Unit muttered simultaneously. Ben raised an eyebrow, impressed at how his ex-protégée had managed to cow his ex-unit so effectively. Alex merely grinned at the sight of Rose's glare directed at someone other than himself.

All in all, the plane ride was rather uneventful. Rose had sat beside the twenty year old boy, which had become something of a tradition between the two agents after their countless missions together over the years. The two agents, the youngest agents currently employed by the MI6, had passed away the time by alternating between flicking sultanas at Ben, Wolf, Snake, Eagle or Shark, and competing against each other on the game _Tap Tap Revenge_, played out on Rose's iPod Touch.

"Urgh!" Rose had exclaimed when their scores were tied for the eleventh time.

Eagle had leant over the aisle so that he could see the iPod. "Awesome! Can I have a go?"

Rose and Alex had exchanged smirks, before the former issued a challenge to the SAS soldier. Ben leant around a sleeping Wolf, and he, along with Snake and Shark, watched with amusement as Rose and Eagle battled it out. It really came as no surprise when Rose annihilated the SAS soldier.

"No fair," Eagle had whined as his half of the iPod continuously flashed _Loser_ at him. Ben and Snake were snickering behind the man's back, while Rose wore a triumphant smile. Alex and Shark merely exchanged exasperated looks. Wolf slept on, not knowing about the commotion around him.

The rest of the had flight passed rather quickly, with the iPod touch being passed around so that they could have a sort of championship tournament with Snake defeating Eagle, Shark beating Snake, Fox owning Shark, Rose completely obliterating her former mentor, and Alex drawing with Rose. Again. Wolf had slept through the entire thing.

Just before they were about to land, Ben and Eagle had come up with the idea that it would be amusing to wake Wolf up by pouring their spring water over the man's head. It had been amusing to watch, but once Wolf had actually woken up, spluttering and coughing, the two men knew that their deaths were imminent.

Now, two hours after they'd arrived in the USA and checked into their hotel rooms, all anyone of them felt like doing was to lay in their beds, watching Wolf shout himself hoarse at his current and former teammates, while Eagle and Ben hung their heads, muttering apologies under their breaths. Rose found the whole thing highly amusing, and so Wolf's loud yelling was interspersed with the twenty six year old's laughter.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

"Alex, wake up."

A soft voice spoke somewhere above him. Someone was shaking him gently, trying to get him up. Alex groaned.

"Five more minutes," he muttered.

Rose chuckled. It was always a pain trying to wake the boy on the first day of missions. She had no idea why, but the rest of the time the blonde boy seemed perfectly capable of getting up at the crack of dawn by himself.

"Alex, wake up or there won't be any breakfast for you," she whispered in a rather motherly voice. At once Alex shot up out of bed, wide awake, almost whacking Rose with his head as he did so. Agent Allende laughed; boys, even secret agents, could be so predictable sometimes.

Someone had gone out and bought a stack of bread, some jam, and seven cups of coffee. Ben and K-Unit were already up, devouring the bread like there was no tomorrow. Alex joined the fray, grabbing himself some food before there was none left. Helping himself to the coffee, he sat down next to Rose who was amusing herself with the commotion.

"They way they act, you'd think that they'd never had a good meal in their life," she said, not bothering to keep her voice down. If any of the men heard her, they ignored her jib.

Alex grinned. "Ah, what do you expect? They're not exactly taught manners at that hell hole they call a training camp." It was a true statement – after all, all the men who were currently fighting over the bread, had at some point in their lives all been trained as SAS soldiers over at Breacon Beacons.

Rose laughed, before turning to Alex with a slightly more serious expression on her face. "Alex, you've memorised your character, haven't you?"

Alex raised an eyebrow. "What do you take me for, Rose?" He asked with a hint of amusement in his voice, "I'm not exactly a newbie. I've done this before, in case you've forgotten. I know what I'm doing. Stop worrying and enjoy the last moments of freedom you'll have before the mission."

"You're right...as usual," Rose smiled, slightly mollified. She couldn't help but worry when she watched Alex go out into the field, and had to constantly remind herself that she was doing the same thing back when she was twenty. Still...the boy just seemed to bring out some strange maternal instinct that was inside her.

"Should we be stopping those guys any time soon?" Alex asked, going back to looking at the five squabbling men.

"Oh, I don't know," Rose replied with a smirk, "This makes pretty good blackmail material for when Ben tries to get me to do something." And so saying, Agent Allende pulled out her phone and began filming Ben Daniels having a struggle with Eagle, a bit of strawberry jam spread on his face.

"You are mean," Alex grinned, "Have I ever told you that I never want to get on your bad side?"

"All the time. You said that to me like five times during our last mission."

"Well, what you did to Crawley really...okay, it was funny but I don't want it ever to happen to me."

Ten minutes later, the fight finally died down as the last of breakfast was consumed. After they'd all laughed at the video Rose took (or rather, Ben sulked while the others all laughed), the female agent grabbed Alex and Ben and dragged them both into the bathroom. She rummaged through the bag that was already in there, before pulling out two bottles of permanent hair dye.

"Here," she said, shoving the bottles at Alex and Ben, "I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you how to use this. They should be the same colour, since you're supposed to be related, but different shades. You've got two hours." With that, Agent Allende left the boys to dye their respective hairs, going back out to K-Unit so that the five of them could run through their five different plans of attack should Alex or Ben call for backup.

Forty-five minutes later, Alex walked out of the bathroom, his blonde hair now a soft brown. After ten minutes, which Rose spent inspecting the "new" Alex and K-Unit spent ogling at the now brown haired boy, the twenty-year old joined them in making their various plans.

A little more than an hour later, Ben Daniels came out, his hair dyed such a dark brown that it could almost be mistaken for black.

"Why did I get such a dark shade?" He whined.

Rose smirked at him. "Because last time when me 'n' Alex were on a mission, you chose for my hair to be red," she said, running a hand through her dark brown hair, "This is merely payback."

"But now I look like you!" Ben exclaimed.

"Better than looking like yourself," Alex and Rose said simultaneously. They grinned at each other, and high-fived.

Ben sighed. "Nope, not immature at all, what are you talking about?" He muttered sarcastically under his breath, thinking back to a meeting he'd had with Mr Blunt at the end of the previous year where he'd had to defended the two's maturity level.

"You know we're just joking," Rose said.

"Yeah, we love you very much," Alex added, struggling not to burst out into laughter and join K-Unit in rolling around on the ground.

"Jeez, thanks," Ben said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "So good to know I'm appreciated around here."

_Okay, I know that that was sort of a really big filler chapter, but I just wanted to show how Alex has found a sort of second family with Rose, Ben and sort of K-Unit._

_Anyways, don't forget to REVIEW!_

_Love Chariots99_


	3. Grand Tour of the Fabled Halls

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter Three**

"You alright Alex?" Ben asked.

Alex took a calming breath. "Yeah. Just, nervous, you know?"

"I know," Ben said, "Don't worry, you always get nervous before missions."

The two were currently driving over to Bayswater Camp in a rented car that was slightly beat up looking. They had spent the first hour or so quizzing each other on their new identities, before falling silent into their own minds. Now, it appeared they were speaking again.

"Now remember, if you see any need for backup, call _immediately_. I won't be around you that often, so I won't see what you do. But remember, Rose and the others won't mind coming for a false alarm, okay?" Ben reminded.

Alex sighed, rolling his eyes in the process. "Ben. I don't know how to tell you this, but _I know_. Stop badgering me."

"I know you know," Ben said, "But despite that fact, you still manage to avoid calling in backup. Remember three missions back?"

"I try not to," Alex muttered. That had been completely his fault. He'd thought he could deal with the psychopathic terrorists himself. Apparently, he'd been wrong. If Rose hadn't managed to break out of her restraints, incapacitate her guards, and come find him...well, let's just say he would've lost an eye if he was extremely lucky.

Ben chuckled. "Don't worry, you've learn your lesson. Or so you keep telling me, anyway. But just remember to never hesitate to call in back up. Got it?"

"Got it," Alex said, and the topic was dropped.

Soon Bayswater High Boarding House, where the camp was being held, came into view. It was a small but tall and boring looking structure with pale cream walls and rows of neat and highly polished windows. The two could spy the corner of what looked like the Bayswater Oval, and from what they could see, it looked very green and neatly maintained. A tip of one of the soccer goals came into view, before it was blocked by a row of trees.

"Well, this place certainly looks...different," Ben mused, turning into the staff parking and pulling into parking bay number 12.

"It looks nice and boring at the same time," Alex said, "How is that possible?"

"It's just your imagination," Ben snickered.

"Ha ha, very funny," Alex said sarcastically, rolling his eyes for the effect as the two got out of the car and grabbed their respective bags which contained all their needs for the mission, as well as a couple of presents from Mr Smithers.

Ben looked around, before pulling Alex in a random direction. "I think you get in this way..." he said, trailing off as they walked. Alex struggled against the older man's grip every step of the way.

"Ow! Do you have to pull that hard?" He exclaimed, trying to pull his arm out of the bruising grip it was currently in. Ben ignored the twenty year old, instead walking the two around the building where he found the entrance to the Boarding House.

"Aha!" He said triumphantly, before dragging Alex in.

They walked up to the brightly lit reception, taking in their surroundings and all the exits that could be used. Subconsciously, both MI6 agents began slowly immersing themselves into their respective aliases, so that by the time they reached the reception they were no longer Alex Rider and Ben Daniels but rather –

"Hi, Professor Saunders here to sign in my nephew John Saunders," Ben said, gesturing towards Alex who gave the receptionist a shy smile.

"Hello John," the receptionist smiled kindly, "My name's Betty and I'll be in charge of timetabling which master classes and lectures you attend while you are here. If you ever need some help, or just someone to talk to, I'll be right here. Okay?"

Alex smiled and nodded shyly, which was harder than it looked.

"You'll be living with the other boys in the East Wing. The girls are in the West Wing. Bear in mind that if there's another person in your room, whether they be a girl or boy, the door must remain open for security reasons. Also, you may bring food into your dorms but please don't make a mess. You'll have to clean it up otherwise," Betty added, before handing Alex a thin purple booklet,

"Here's the rest of the rules as well as a map of the place. You'll be getting timetables of the activites tomorrow at breakfast. For now, I suggest getting used to the general area, perhaps meeting some of your fellow campers. Dinner will be in approximately two and a half hours, in the mess hall which you should find on your map. Any questions?"

Alex shook his head, making sure to add another shy smile. Betty nodded encouragingly, before pointing at the set of stairs off to the left of the reception table. "Just climb those stairs and turn right and you'll find the boy dorms. You're in room 19.7, and here's your key. Don't lose it, we don't have any spares. You can go now; you're uncle's arrangements are slightly different. If you have any questions, make sure to ask!"

The now brown haired spy nodded, sending his "uncle" what he felt was a shy departing smile (though it could have turned out to be a grimace if the look on Ben's face was anything to go by), before setting off for the stairs. He made a show of dragging his bag lightly across the ground to further credit his role as a professor's nephew. A couple of boys poked their heads out of their rooms, giving the newcomer welcoming smiles. Alex smiled back at them.

Room 19.7 came into view. It took a couple of tries for the key to fit into the lock on the door. Alex pushed the rather heavy wooden door open, latching it to the wall, before dumping his bag onto his bed and surveying the room. A single bed took up most of the room, with a study table opposite, as well as a small closet. He had a small balcony that could be used for getaways if necessary. He dearly hoped that it wouldn't come to that though; he wasn't willing to test how well his bones would fare against a storey high drop.

With a sigh, Alex turned and began to unpack his stuff, neatly hanging up his clothes and arranging the stationary and books he'd brought on his desk. He was, after all, the "nephew" of a professor, so he should technically be quite neat. That done, Alex decided to go out exploring, and more importantly, out to find the shared bathrooms.

Just as he finished locking his door, someone yelled for his attention.

"Hey, new kid!"

Alex turned and watched as two boys came pelting down the corridor towards him. One of them was blonde, the other a red-head. Both were quite tall, and probably very athletic judging by the way they sprinted towards him. Sensing no malice in either kid, Alex decided to wait to see what they wanted.

"Hey," the blonde said once the two boys skidded to a halt. Alex returned the smile they were giving him with one of his own, albeit a hopefully shyer version.

"Hi," he replied.

"I'm Robert," the blonde continued, extending a hand which Alex took, "And this is Colin," he added with a nod at the red head.

"Howdy!" Colin said cheerfully, "And what's your name?"

"John," Alex said, shaking his hand too, "John Saunders."

"You sound different," Robert said, looking at Alex thoughtfully, "It's like, I don't know...French? No, um...Italian? No that's not it..."

"Australian? No, my cousin's Aussie, and he's not like that..." Colin said.

"Try English," Alex grinned.

"English? We're all speaking English John," Colin said, "We're trying to place your accent, not your language."

Alex raised an eyebrow as Robert face-palmed himself before slapping his friend on the back of his head. "No, you idiot, he says his _accent's _English. Like, as in England!"

A look of realization dawned upon Colin's face, a moment before he blushed deep red. "My bad."

Robert just sniggered at his friend's idiocy, before turning back to the amused Alex. "So, had the grand tour yet, John?"

Alex shook his head. "I only just got here."

"Ah, well in that case, let us be the first to welcome you to Bayswater High Winter Camp!" Colin said grandly, spreading his arms out and almost knocking off Robert's head in the process, "Here, in the fabled halls of the...erm...school-like-building, you shall expand your knowledge of the world to beyond what even you could possibly ever imagine!"

"Colin, you're not being paid to advertise the camp," Robert said, "So what the hell are you doing?"

Colin shrugged. "Dunno...I think the sugar high may have kicked in though..."

"Yeah, I'm going to _kill_ Anthony for ever giving you all that sugar," Robert muttered, before realising that Alex was staring at the two. "Anyways, come with us, and we'll give you the grand tour of the...ah..."fabled halls"."

Alex grinned before following the two boys down the corridor, patting his pocket to make sure that his key was still there. Colin was in the lead, and he was talking at a hundred miles an hour. Robert fell in step with Alex, rolling his eyes at his friend while supplying the spy with information that would be more useful than Colin's verbal regurgitation.

"There are about twenty rooms on this corridor. Perhaps about fifty or sixty rooms altogether on this floor..."

" – and then there was this really high pitched scream, so of course I had to go and see if anyone was hurt, you know, since I'm so selfless and all – "

"...Bathrooms are spaced every four or five doors apart on the right side...well right if you're looking at it from this way. And they painted the doors blue...like that one, see?..."

" – and there was this _massive_ spider like thing crawling along her books – "

"...Toilets are on the left, and usually opposite the bathrooms but there are exceptions, like on the fourth floor..."

" – and Emma was freaking out, like fully hyperventilating, you know? So anyways – "

"...The toilet doors are grey, apparently to differentiate from the bathroom doors, but at night you can't really tell the difference...Oh, yeah, you did bring a torch didn't you? Okay, good, because it's seriously not fun wondering around the corridors when they're pitch black. Trust me, keep your torch on you twenty-four seven..See, here's mine!..."

" – so I emptied my coffee out the window, oh by the way don't tell my mum I drink coffee or she'll kill me. Anyways, so yeah, I emptied my coffee out the window –"

"...Oh, and there's Brody – Hey Brody! This is John, he's a newbie – anyways, that was Brody, he used to go to my school before he moved, used to go out with my sister too, and that was really weird let me tell you..."

" – and then I snuck up on the spider and _BAM!_ I caught it underneath the cup! – "

"...My room's just 'round this corner. For some reason, it's been turned into like the gathering room, so it's like twice as hard for me to keep it clean. I think I gave up like two days ago, so you might want to beware of the mess..."

" – then I put the spider on the tree that was outside Emma's window, and it crawled away, and I was like, "see not too hard!" And Emma was like all over me for being her hero, and she sent me off with a really awesome kiss! Like, I mean awesome! – "

"...Me'n that idiot blabbering away had just come back from the toilet when we saw you down the hall, and obviously we knew that you were new since we'd never seen you before, so we decided to come and join you...or rather, invite you to join us. Hope you didn't mind, by the way, since I'm having second thoughts of bringing Colin out..."

" – so have you ever kissed anyone John?"

It took a while for Alex to realise that Colin was talking to him. It took even longer for Robert to realise that his hyper friend had ended his rant. Colin stared at Alex, waiting expectantly for a response.

"Erm, yeah I have," Alex said.

"Who?" Colin asked eagerly. Before Alex could answer, even though he was about to tell Colin to stuff it anyway, Robert intervened.

"Colin you idiot, you don't go around asking people that!" Robert said with a roll of his eyes as the trio turned the corner.

"Why not?"

"Because it's prying and it's rude and it makes you sound like a paedophile. Not to mention that John might not _want_ to tell you, because just maybe he wants to keep it a secret. Because you know, most normal people do have secrets, and don't go blabbering on at a hundred miles an hour when they've consumed a bag of Skittles. Just maybe, you know."

"Oh, right, got it. Sorry John."

"No worries," Alex grinned.

It was going to be a _very_ interesting mission.

_Does Colin remind you of anyone else, or am I just imagining things?_

_Anyways, so my awesomely loyal readers and reviewers, how did you all like that chapter?_

_Please review, it so makes my day._

_Love Chariots99_

_**IMPORTANT NOTE**__: Just to let you all know, I've decided that this'll be the last story in the series, unless someone gives me an amazingly awesome idea (yeah, coz I'm actually out of ideas). So, this is what I'm planning for when this story is over. I'm going to write a __**reader's choice**__, which is basically going to be short stories about scenes that __**you want to see,**__ scenes that you always imagined should've been done, but I never did due to lack of imagination or whatever. So tell me what you want, and I'll post the "winning" ideas on my profile and buckle down to write that scene just for you! xox_


	4. TimMatthew?

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_Sorry guys, I don't know what happened. I was sure that I'd already posted this chapter, but it never showed up on the website...so yeah. Free chappies for all!_

**Chapter Four**

Colin and Robert had led Alex into Robert's room which had already occupied with two other boys – Anthony (a brown haired kid) and Dylan (Anthony's fifteen year old brother). Both boys had greeted Alex with such a high degree of cheerfulness and enthusiasm the MI6 spy was left to believe that Robert was the only one _not_ on a sugar high.

Now, the five of them were playing Big 2, waiting for the dinner bell (yes, apparently there was a dinner bell), to sound. Though Alex wasn't sure how much food the others would actually be eating – they were all pretty stuffed from the seemingly continuous supply of lollies and chips present in the room that left them all feeling extremely dehydrated.

"Hahaha! Two Aces! No-one can beat that!" Dylan crowed in triumph, before slapping down his last card, jumping up to his feet, and dancing around the room to some imaginary beat while the older boys all pretended to be sobbing for their losses.

Alex shook his head. They acted worse than some people did (*cough* Ben *cough*) when they were drunk!

Just as Dylan was about to jump onto his brother, a rather pleasant chiming sound met their ears.

"DINNER BELL!" Anthony, Dylan and Colin shouted. In a flash, the three boys were out of the room and stampeding down the corridor to the stairs. If the yelling which echoed back to Robert's room was anything to go by, it sounded like the three rowdy boys had just shoved someone else down the stairs in their haste.

Robert looked over at Alex with a grimace. "Sorry you had to see that," he said, "Usually my friends are a lot calmer than that. I think I should just stop giving them sugar or something..maybe ban it from my room..."

Alex grinned. "Don't worry, I'm used to that sort of behaviour. They act like my uncle when his drunk. Though, don't tell him I said that!" He'd already told the boys that he was the nephew of one of the lecturers.

Robert snorted. "I won't. I'll keep my mouth zipped around Professor Saunders...though you'll have to point out which one he is. We get a lot of new adults coming in at this time, so I have a hard time distinguishing between the lot."

"Fair enough," Alex said, watching as Robert locked his door. The two of them set off down the incredibly less noisy corridor and down the stairs. The mess hall wasn't that far a walk, though Alex had to admit that if it weren't for Robert, he would've gotten lost several times.

The first impression Alex got when he walked into the hall was the overbearing noise of chatter and cutlery as the mass of teens helped themselves to their dinner. The girls, whom Alex had yet to meet due to them living in another wing, were intermingled amongst the boys as they ate their dinners.

Robert led Alex over to the rather long line waiting for their food, handing Alex a plate before getting one for himself. The line moved rather efficiently with each boy pointing out which foods they wanted and the camp instructors piling their choices onto their plates. When Alex and Robert rejoined Anthony, Colin and Dylan, it appeared that the MI6 spy's plate was the only one which didn't resemble Mount Everest.

"You don't eat a lot, do you?" Colin asked through a mouthful of food. Robert leaned over the table to wack his friend across the head.

"Please, for the love of God, chew with your mouth shut, Col!" Robert groaned, "It really doesn't help my digestion when I have to see all the mashed food in your mouth!"

"Well, no-one asked you to look," Colin retorted, though thankfully he swallowed first before opening his mouth.

"No-one asked you to open your mouth," Robert shot back. Anthony and his brother both rolled their eyes, though neither paused in their consumption of food to try and avert the oncoming argument between the two friends, leaving Alex – the 'newcomer' – with the hard job.

"Hey, guys," Alex said weakly once he realised it was up to him to break the two up, "Um...your meals are getting cold." His two new friends ignored him in favour of their argument. Dylan raised his head from his plate long enough to send the older boy a scathing look, one which clearly asked "_That's the best you can do?"_

Alex took a steadying breath, and looked around for a subject he could broach without inflicting another argument, or making the current one worse. He suddenly became aware of a pair of eyes staring intently at him. Frowning, he looked left down the table to meet a pair of dark brown eyes. As he did so, something seemed to flicker behind those eyes, before the boy blinked and looked away. Alex continued to stare at the brown haired boy.

"Um, Robert?" He said, causing Robert to stop his retort and turn towards Alex questioningly, "Who's that?"

Robert turned to gaze down the table at the boy in question before turning back to Alex. "That's Drew. He doesn't seem to talk to anyone but Tim, who's the tallish blonde next to him. Why?"

"Well...he was staring at me and it was like...I don't know," Alex admitted.

Robert merely snorted. "Yeah, that kid does that. First night he got here, he just spent it glaring at everyone, like he was trying to memorise our faces or something. I gotta tell you, he's really freaky. Like, I tried to get to know him, you know, he seemed so lonely with only one friend. And it was weird...like, he was just so...I dunno, cold. Maybe it's just me though..."

Alex made a non-committal sound at the back of his throat, glancing down the table at the boy again before going to his dinner. At least the distraction in the form of the mysterious boy had averted the argument between Robert and Colin. Now that the coast was clear from arguments and potential food fights, Dylan and Anthony struck up a conversation about what they would most likely be doing the following day. Alex joined in with Robert and Colin, the three boys laughing at the two brothers' attempts to imitate Professor Bines, apparently a really boring professor they'd gotten two years ago.

Alex never noticed that the minute he turned his attention away from the brown haired boy, Drew had turned to stare at him through narrowed eyes.

After dinner, the five boys went back upstairs to Robert's room to play another round of Big 2, with Anthony coming out as the winner this time. During his triumphant lap around the room, the boy somehow managed to trip over an empty bag of M&Ms lying on the floor, and as a result smashed straight into the wall. After making sure that he was okay, the rest of the room erupted into full blown laughter at the boy's misfortune, before one of the camp workers popped their head in to inform the boys that it was lights out.

"G'night John!"

"Yeah, 'night John!"

"Goodnight!"

"See you tomorrow Col!"

"Get out of my room you slob!"

"Night Rob!"

"That's your rubbish! Take it with you!"

"OI! Don't throw my cards around! Noooooo...oh, great, now you've messed them up. Nice going, you idiot."

"Hey, not my fault!"

"Yes it was!"

"Will you two just shut up?"

"Um...how about no?"

"Get the hell out of my room!"

"Alright Rob, keep your pants on!"

"Night Dyls!"

"Don't call me that!"

Alex shook his head as he changed into his pyjamas, his new friends' voices still echoing down the hall. Well, this was most certainly going to be an interesting mission. Especially if his new friends were on constant sugar highs...

Morning came around sooner than expected. It seemed that within moments of Alex closing his eyes, sunlight was streaming through the window. The twenty year old groaned softly, wishing that he could get back to sleep. _Damn that sun_...

Alex sighed in annoyance, before getting up from his bed. Subconsciously, his eyes did a quick scan of his room, processing anything that may have been moved while he was asleep, or anything new which had been added that could be a threat. Finding none, his body relaxed from a tense position that he didn't even realise he was taking, before going over to his bag and extracting shower gear and a change of clothes. Locking his door behind him, he walked down the corridor until he reached a blue door which Robert had said marked a bathroom. Quietly he got showered, before getting dressed and going back to his room.

It was about seven in the morning, which was quite late according to the spy, but apparently very early in the day according to every other teen in the building. The entire floor on which Alex's dorm was situated was so quite that you would probably be able to hear a pin drop on the opposite wing he was in. It was actually rather refreshing not to have to strain his ears to listen for any suspicious footsteps, since he'd probably be able to hear any potential assassins from a mile away.

Alex sighed, dropping onto his bed. He was _bored_. This mission was so different to any others he'd completed in his past four years that he simply didn't know what to do with himself. Usually there was always the threat of a killer, of some psychopathic maniac, some evil plan, and the threat of his secret being discovered to keep him on his toes. Now...now, he was hanging around kids at least two years younger than him running on constant sugar highs. And his job was to keep them from some ex-CIA guy who may well turn out to be a psychopathic maniac. But until the man revealed himself, and perhaps some evil plan to conquer the world, Alex had nothing better to do. Yep, he was definitely bored.

With a soft and frustrated moan, the Alex got off his bed, deciding to do a bit of exploring to fill up his time. Locking the door behind him, and tucking his keys into his jean pocket, he set off towards the stairs and climbing up them until he reached the second floor landing. This floor appeared to be almost a copy of the first floor, but nonetheless Alex decided to take a look around. Purely because he was bored.

As he walked down the hall, he realised that this floor was actually an _exact_ copy of the first floor. Holding back a shudder as his mind dragged forwards images from Point Blanc Academy, the spy hurriedly went back towards the stairs. Deciding against going up and having further flashbacks, he instead chose to go right down to the ground floor. It was also deserted, which really shouldn't have surprised Alex, but did. However, despite being empty of all forms of life, clangs and clashes echoed throughout the ground floor.

Intrigued, Alex followed the sound through the maze of connected hallways until he arrived at a metal door, situated just off where they'd had dinner the night before. Slowly the boy turned the handle, before opening the door and popping his head inside.

There were about fifteen people bustling around, carrying pots and trays and stacks of newly washed dishes. Cupboards were opened and closed with loud bangs, stoves were turned on and off and on again, cutlery was dumped with loud clatters into separate holders. Masses of cereal were poured into huge containers, eggs, bacon, and toast were being produced en masse.

Alex pulled his head out and quietly closed the door, not that it would've made a huge difference. He'd just found the kitchen. Well, at least now he knew where to get food from if he was ever hungry.

Alex pulled his iPod out of his pocket as he navigated his way back towards the stairs. Sticking the headphones in, he nodded along to the beat of whatever song was currently playing. As he climbed back up the stairs, he could hear noises coming from the other rooms, indicating that the other boys were finally starting to wake up. _About time_, Alex thought. He was just about to turn the corner when he walked straight into another boy who'd just gotten out of his room.

"Woah!" Alex exclaimed as they both stumbled back.

The boy glared up at him coldly, and Alex realised that he was looking into the same brown eyes as last night during dinner. What had Robert said his name was...? Dean...? Derik...? Hm...Drew! That was it!

"Um...Hi. I'm John," Alex said awkwardly, sticking out one of his hands while pulling out one of the earphones with the other. He didn't bother turning off his iPod though, since the volume wasn't loud enough to be a distraction or to drown out any voices. The other boy didn't stop glaring, but he folded his arms across his chest as a clear signal that he was _not_ about to shake Alex's hand.

"Okaaaaay..." Alex trailed off, "You're Drew, aren't you?"

"So?" Drew asked coolly.

"Well, we haven't met yet since I just came in yesterday, well last night, and I just wanted to get to know everybody..." Alex trailed off when he realised that the conversation was going nowhere.

There was a pause as Alex looked at the boy who was giving him a rather cold look. There was a flicker of something behind the boy's mask, but Alex couldn't detect what it could be. The spy sighed. It was quite obvious that Drew didn't want Alex within a ten metre radius of him.

"Well, um, I'll be going now," Alex said with false cheeriness in his voice, "It was nice meeting you."

Drew snorted and opened his mouth, no doubt to give some sarcastic retort or other. But before the boy could speak, someone had shouted his name.

"Oi, Drew! What's taking you so long – oh! I didn't know you had a visitor." A blonde kid taller than Drew walked up to Alex with a smile. "Hi, I don't believe we've met."

"No, we haven't. I just got here last night," Alex offered, sticking out his hand, "I'm John. John Saunders."

"Hello John. I'm Tim," the blonde greeted before asking, "You're not from around here are you?"

"Erm, no I'm from England. But my uncle was invited here to give a lecture, and he decided to bring me along since I don't really have anything better to do right now. So, yeah," Alex finished rather lamely. He was rather aware of his accent, which MI6 had told him to play up since Ben had a rather strong accent too.

"Well, hope you have fun. Maybe we'll see you around sometime?" Tim offered.

Alex smiled, "Okay. See you around."

The MI6 spy turned and walked off, but he kept his ear trained on anything the pair behind him might say. Sure enough, the moment Alex was out of normal human earshot, Drew turned to speak to his infinitely more friendly friend. Alex barely contained his smirk as he toggled through the songs on his iPod until he reached the one Smithers said would allow him to be able to hear anything within a fifteen metre radius. It had taken a lot of practise to get used to this particular function on his iPod gadget, since the program effectively made it sound like an overcrowded room, but now the boy could focus on one conversation without being sidetracked too badly.

Alex frowned, ignoring the clashes of the kitchen, and the fumbles of the still sleepy boys, and concentrated on the no doubt fiercely whispered conversation going on behind him.

"– should be more friendly – "

"Don't you dare tell me what to do, Matthew!"

"I'm just saying, you could try..."

"Yeah, and pigs could fly! Leave me alone!"

"Wait, what's wrong? You've been acting all jittery since last night's din –"

"Nothing's wrong!"

"Why are you so defensive then?"

There was a silence in which Alex slowed down his steps so that he didn't move outside the radius which the iPod operated in.

"Look Matthew, back out now before I make you." The response was rather calm, but Alex could definitely detect the threatening undertone.

"Okay, okay, no need to get all touchy–"

"Oi, John! Over here, mate!"

Alex jerked his head at the sudden intrusion before recognising the voice as Colin's. With a sigh that went unnoticed by the fast approaching red head, Alex slipped the head phone out of his ear and stuffed his iPod back into his pocket.

"John!" Colin said once he'd reached Alex, "I was knocking on your door for _hours_ this morning! Where were you?"

Alex raised an eyebrow and grinned. "I was down in the kitchens. For like half an hour. So there's no way you could've been knocking for hours."

Colin stuck his tongue out just as Anthony appeared.

"Oh that was real mature, Cols," Anthony scoffed, before sending Alex a smile in greeting. Dylan appeared right behind his brother, grinning in a maniacal way. Alex raised his eyebrows at Anthony in question. The boy merely rolled his eyes, before mouthing to the spy, _Robert gave him chocolate_.

"Chocolate? At eight in the morning?" Alex couldn't help but asking. There was a hint of disgust in his voice, but none of the three chocoholic boys noticed.

"What are you talking about John? Chocolate's good at all times. Especially in the morning!" Dylan defended his...erm...chocolate, sending Alex a glare while still maintaining his maniacal grin. The result was, well, interesting to say the least, though Alex would be quite glad if he didn't have to witness that attempt again from the rest of his life.

"There you guys are!" Robert suddenly appeared, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Awww, little Robby-Bobby missed us," Colin cooed in a rather high girlish voice, sending everyone into fits of laughter.

"Never...call...me...that...again," Robert said in between his fits.

"Call you what?" Colin asked, his voice back to normal, "Robby-Bobby?"

That only fuelled the laughter. Soon, Dylan and Anthony were rolling around on the floor, while Robert holding onto Colin for support. Alex looked on with a very amused grin. Other boys poked their heads out of their rooms, trying to see what was so funny, but upon finding out that it was Colin and Robert, the two most noisy boys in the entire camps, they shut their doors again.

It was a while before the boys had calmed down enough to realise that the rest of the boys on their floor were leaving for breakfast. Shrugging at each other, the five boys joined the crowds, each getting some cereal and toast before choosing a table closest to the door.

As they finished their breakfast, the doors to the dining hall opened again, revealing three adults wearing broad grins on their faces. They each carried a large stack of paper, which Robert informed Alex were their timetables. The man in the middle wore the largest smile, and stepped forwards to address the room.

"Good morning all!" He said rather cheerfully, "And welcome to Camp!" This was met with a round of cheers and ear-splitting whistles. "For those of you who do not know me, I am David Sampson, your Camp Coordinator. Feel free to come to me about any problems you may be experiencing, whether it be social or otherwise; though girls may want to go to Annie Lewis for theirs," David added, gesturing at the woman standing to his right and causing many of the girls to break out into giggles.

"This year," David went on, "We are pleased to welcome a couple of new professors who are, of course, masters of their own specialties. You will get to meet these professors in their respective lectures, however I will let you know a little about them first. So, we have Professor Saunders, who teaches Genetics at Oxford Uni."

A couple of excited and impressed whispers broke out upon David mentioning the name 'Oxford Uni'. Alex mentally grinned; oh, if only they knew the real Ben!

"Then there's also Professor Willard, who will be talking to you all about Animal and Human Biology. Maybe he'll show you a couple of dissections as well," David grinned, "And finally, we are also lucky enough to have Professor Hobbs, one of the leading technicians of this country, here to tell you all about the wonders of electricity."

Alex stiffened imperceptibly at the name, before joining in half-heartedly with the applause.

"For now, continue your breakfasts while I, Annie Lewis and Professor Carlton hand out these timetables. Your day will start at ten exact! Oh, and one more thing; have fun today!"

.:X:.

_Yeah, I know. Weird place to end it, but I was sort of getting a writer's block so I ended it before it could get too bad._

_Just thought I'd say this though: I know so far there hasn't been any action. Whatsoever. But I have to set the scene...or at least, that's what I'm trying to tell myself. Anyway, yeah, stuff will be happening very soon. Until then, thanks for bearing with me!_

_Anyways, thanks for reading and please __**review**__!_

_Also, don't forget about the __**Reader's Choice**__!_

_Love Chariots99_


	5. Genes Impregnation

_IF THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR, READ THE LAST CHAPTER!_

_For those wondering what the heck happened, I don't know either. All I know is that I thought I'd already put up the last chapter...which I didn't. So basically, you guys were missing one of the important chapers. Sorry if you've already read this! Please go and read the last chapter!_

**Chapter Five**

"...every human chromosome will be labelled by a probe that fluoresces with its own characteristics, due to its own specific wavelengths. Because each chromosome-specific probe emits its own signature, abnormal chromosomes can be easily detected with the spectral karyotype, also known as simply SKY..." Ben droned on, regurgitating the speech which MI6 had written for him.

In the lecture theatre, Alex seemed to be the only one bored out of his mind. His friends were listening to Ben, or rather "Professor Saunders", their eyes wide with awe, seemingly able to understand and absorb everything that the MI6 agent had said. Robert was even taking notes, his hand flying back and forth across his page.

After being given the activity timetables that morning, Alex had been dragged off to the lecture theatre by three of his very excitable friends. Fifteen year old Dylan had decided to go off with some of his other friends to some lecture being given by a Literature Professor.

Alex sighed before glancing around as inconspicuously as possible. Everyone, boys and girls alike, seemed to be engrossed in Ben's monotonic lecture. Half of them were also taking notes, like Robert.

Suddenly, a pair of dark brown eyes caught Alex's. And just as suddenly, Drew looked away, turning his brown eyes back on Professor Saunders. Leaving Alex to blink rather rapidly, recovering from something akin to shock. Those eyes...they looked so familiar. Rather like what he saw sometimes, when he looked into a mirror. They were so cold, so hopeless and without life.

So lost.

Alex knew right then that, without a doubt, Drew was not a normal kid. There was a high possibility of him being a threat to the rest of the children at the camp. He might even be in league with James Olsen, blending in from the inside just like Alex was doing...

"...during gametogenesis, imprinting will take place. It marks certain genes as having come from the mother or father. Control over this process is governed by what we call imprinting centres, located within imprinted regions throughout the genome..." Ben droned one, completely oblivious to Alex's predicament.

For Alex now had no idea how to handle Drew. He remembered what Robert had told him about Drew last night at dinner... "_First night he got here, he just spent it glaring at everyone, like he was trying to memorise our faces or something_". There was a good possibility that Drew was actually picking out the victims, figuring out who would be the weakest and easiest.

The young MI6 agent gritted his teeth. He would have to keep an eye on Drew, as well as James Olsen. If the two were in league with each other, then they were both probably equally dangerous.

Then there was Drew's friend, Tim. The infinitely more friendly boy. But Alex clearly remembered Drew calling Tim "Matthew" that morning when he had been listening to them through his iPod. Great, another suspicious teen for the MI6 agent to observe.

"...And in my next lecture, which will be in two days' time, I'll be further explaining the process of genomic imprinting, as well as moving on to the independent assortment and homologous recombination in meiosis. Thank you," Ben finished, finally ending his lecture.

Robert turned to Alex with wide eyes. "Man, you are _so_ lucky to have Professor Saunders as your uncle! He is so _interesting_!"

"Erm...yeah, he is," Alex said rather hesitantly, hoping that Robert wouldn't ask him questions about 'genes impregnation', or whatever Ben had been talking about.

Thankfully, Robert appeared to perfectly understand the process of 'gamete intestination'...or whatever. Instead the boy pulled out his timetable and shoved it under Alex's nose.

"Here, your turn to choose," he grinned.

Taking the timetable, Alex ran his eye down the options for 12 o'clock. His eye came to a rest at the third option. "Um, how 'bout option three?" Alex asked.

"_The Science of Surveillance Cameras with Professor Hobbs – Lecture Room 5, West Wing,_" Robert read out for the benefit of Colin and Anthony. "Sure, that sounds interesting enough."

"Awww! But I wanted to go to the lecture Professor Willard's giving!" Colin whined, "Please can we go to that one? _Please?_"

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Colin, I'll go with you to that lecture _if you stop bloody whining!_"

"Yay!" The boy exclaimed, before dragging Anthony off, the latter boy looking like he was seriously reconsidering his offer.

Alex and Robert exchanged amused glances. "Guess it's just us two then, John," Robert grinned, before leading the way to the West Wing.

Lecture Room 5 was almost packed to the brim when the two boys arrived. It appeared that the link surveillance cameras had with spying was not lost on these trigger-happy teenagers. A group of girls waved at Robert, motioning to some spare seats next to them.

"Hey Rob! Who's your friend?" One of the girls asked as Robert and Alex sat down.

"Hey Sandy. This is John Saunders; his uncle's one of the lecturers this year."

"Hi," Alex said with the shy smile he had been practicing for hours so that it appeared natural. Sandy fluttered her long lashes at him, leaning in closer to the spy; Alex fought to keep his facial expression neutral as his nose was assaulted with an overwhelming amount of perfume.

"Hello John. It's a pleasure to meet you," Sandy smiled, extending a perfectly manicured hand towards the boy, "These are my friends; Amy, Tammy, Danni, and that's Chloe at the end."

"Hi," Alex repeated to them all, subtly inching away from Sandy so that he could breathe in some fresh air. Robert noticed his dilemma; the boy sent Alex a smirk from his perfume free seat. Alex scowled back.

"So John, I take it that you're from England?" Sandy asked.

"Er, yeah. Is my accent really that obvious?" Alex replied, secretly pleased that his attempts to be more "English" was working.

"It is," Sandy smiled, her emerald green eyes glowing, "I think it's kinda cute – ow!"

Someone had knocked their bag into Sandy's head; by the time the girl could get her hair out of her face, the perpetrator had already walked off so that the girl couldn't yell at them. However, unless he had mistaken the brown hair and cold eyes, Alex was sure that it had been Drew.

Sandy growled under her breath as Amy and Chloe leaned in to fix the girl's hair. Alex fought to keep the smirk off his face, while Robert had already dissolved into laughter. Like the wonderful friend he was.

At that moment, James Olsen walked into the lecture room, carrying a leather briefcase. Alex froze slightly at the sight of it, hoping that it didn't conceal a bomb or some other explosive. Or a gun or anything.

"Good morning everyone. I am Professor Hobbs. Today I will be talking to you about the science behind the surveillance cameras used in our shopping centres and homes, for security and of course, for TV shows with spies..." James Olsen said, beginning his lecture.

Alex zoned out on the actual topic, figuring that he already knew enough about _that_ particular area. Instead he focussed on the ex-CIA agent, committing the man to memory.

The man looked slightly different to the picture MI6 had given him. For one, he had cut off his small beard. For another, he'd gotten a tan. The file had said that James was in his mid thirties, but actually looking at him, the man appeared a lot younger.

James Olsen didn't look like someone capable of torturing another human being into insanity. In fact he looked perfectly harmless. Maybe even a bit frail. But on the other hand, most psychopaths tried to be innocent looking, so that they weren't suspected. Still...

Alex knew that he had a good sense of judgement. He knew who he could trust, and who he couldn't. It was instinctive, refined from his many missions. If he hadn't been told that James Olsen had tortured someone into insanity, he wouldn't have ever thought it.

"...Alright! That's it for today. Have a good afternoon everyone!" Professor Hobbs finished.

As soon as the ex-CIA agent finished, Sandy turned to face Alex with what she assumed was a flirty smile. "Say John, would you like to accompany me to lunch? I'd love to get to know you better."

Alex was slightly taken aback. Not sure how to answer, he stuttered for a bit before giving a hesitant "Er...sure, I guess."

"Wonderful," Sandy beamed, grabbing Alex's hand and almost dragging him out of the lecture room.

"Catch you later!" Robert sniggered. It took all of Alex's self control not to send Robert the one-fingered salute. _I'm a professor's shy nephew, not a trigger-happy spy. I'm a professor's shy nephew, not a trigger-happy spy,_ Alex repeated to himself inside his head.

"So John, tell me about yourself," Sandy said, hanging on to Alex's arm.

Really, it took more energy than Alex had ever used to refrain from throwing up at the way she was fluttering her eyes at him – she probably thought it looked flirty, but to Alex it was more like she had something stuck in her eyes. Finally, he managed a: "Oh, there's really not much to tell."

Sandy pouted. "I'm sure there's something! Okay, do you have any siblings?"

"No," Alex said, then seeing his chance added, "Do you?"

"Oh, yes! I have an older brother! He's four years older, and he's at uni right now studying engineering! And he's engaged, and..."

Alex smiled as Sandy began to chatter. Now _this_ he could deal with.

They finally reached the dining room. Alex looked around, before spotting Colin waving madly at him. Sandy saw Colin at the same time, and dragged Alex over to the boys.

"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet John! He's from England, and–"

"His uncle is Professor Saunders, the amazing lecturer from this morning," Colin interrupted with a grin, "Honestly Sands, did you really think that there would be someone I don't know?"

Sandy huffed. "Well, it's possible," she said, though without much conviction in her voice.

"How was your lecture?" Alex asked.

Colin and Anthony exchanged identical looks of awe, before turning to Alex. "Dude, you seriously missed out on a great lecture," Colin said.

"Yeah, it was like, _amazing_," Anthony added, his eyes glazed over with admiration, "Professor Willard was just so...I don't know! He was _amazing_!"

"He's really good," Colin said.

"Made it sound like he's really been there, done that!" Anthony said.

"Amazing guy," Colin finished, "You really missed out, John."

Alex nodded.

"So," he said, "What was the lecture about anyway?"

"The different ways in which something tiny occurring in the cardiovascular system can result in death," Anthony replied.

"Sounds kind of morbid," Alex said.

"Yeah, it was a bit...but still...wow."

Before Alex could ask anything else, Sandy butted in. "Come on, John, you're _my_ dinner date! Pay some attention to me!"

.:X:.

_I am SOOO SORRY that I haven't updated in ages! I've been so busy, and then my laptop was infected by some virus, and now my mid-sems are coming up..._

_Anyways, I typed this when I'm supposed to be studying...so I expect some repayment (*cough* review *cough*)_

_I'll try update by Sunday, since I owe you guys so much!_

_Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for reviewing!_

_Love Chariots99 _


	6. Bloody Ghost

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter Six**

"Defence people! We need defence!" Colin shouted as he did his best to keep the other team from getting the ball.

"Here!" Robert shouted, waving his arms.

Colin spun, booting the ball towards his friend while at the same time somehow stopping the other team's defender from getting possession of the ball.

It was about four in the afternoon, and some of the boys had gathered together to start an impromptu soccer match before dinner. There were only five players on each team though – most had chosen to be present as a spectator. Including Sandy, who was screaming out John's name every few seconds as 'encouragement'.

Alex on the other hand, being Colin's friend, had been dragged into the game. He was still roughly playing his usual midfielder position, but with the lack of players on the team, it was more a free-for-all than a strict adherence to the actual rules.

Alex grinned as he watched Robert dart around a defender only to have to go back after the defender stole the ball. He was toning down his soccer experience, figuring that it wouldn't do to get too much attention.

The game was travelling towards him, now, with both Colin and Robert chasing after the defender. Alex ran forwards to help, but at that moment, the defender kicked the ball towards some midfielder on his team.

"I've got it!" Tim shouted; a moment later he'd intersected the ball and booted it back towards Robert.

"Nice save," Alex said, smiling at Tim as they watched Robert and Colin pass the ball between each other.

"Thanks," Tim grinned, shielding his eyes from the sun, "Oh bugger, here it comes again."

And suddenly Tim raced off, sprinting towards the incoming ball. Figuring that he could act as a sort of second shield if the ball got through, Alex stayed where he was, watching intently. And it was only his trained eyes that picked out what happened next. Tim closed in on the ball, cutting off the defender. As the two jostled for the ball, the defender stuck out an arm, clearly intending to push Tim off during the struggle. He got nowhere near.

Probably seeing the arm coming for him out of the corner of his eye, Tim reacted. Alex watched in shock as the boy abruptly dropped down a little, tilting his head so that the arm missed. Then he spun slightly, moving out of the way as the defender's momentum carried him around. Tim lashed out with a move so small that had Alex even _blinked_, he would've missed it.

Certainly everyone else did, and the defender seemed to fall over on his own free will.

But Alex had seen the hand lashing out, heading straight for a nerve point that would have knocked the defender out for a week. Instead, at the last minute, the hand was angled down slightly so that it missed the spot, only serving as an extra force to push the defender out of the way.

Victorious, Tim now had possession of the ball and was running it back up the field to where Colin and Robert were cheering.

Alex on the other hand, was exercising every bit of self-control he had not to run back up to his room and alert Rose.

The fact was that throughout that entire scuffle, Tim's eyes never once left the ball. In fact, after studying his face closely, Alex was sure that Tim had reacted without thinking, only realising what he was doing just in time to stop himself from knocking the defender out for a week. There were only two ways that such an unconscious reaction could occur; by chance, which was definitely not the case here since this usually happened in the middle of a battlefield where the body knows it's in danger and is doing everything it can to save itself.

Or by having such a move drilled into you so many times that you can react instinctively in the heat of battle.

As Anthony called for a time-out, Alex bit his lip in worry. Despite his friendly appearance, Alex now had proof that the boy was dangerous. And he didn't like it one bit. Because if friendly, outgoing Tim could react like that, what would his friend be capable of doing?

"Good job guys, we're in the lead by 2 points. Tim, nice save, Robert and Colin, nice goals, John, nice defence!" Anthony said, grinning at his team. He had volunteered himself as the goal-keeper, where he would be able to 'keep an eye on the others'. It basically meant that he was the unofficially appointed captain of their team.

"John, you were so good!" A sharp squeal was the only think that prepared Alex; a moment later, Sandy had thrown herself around his neck. Colin and Anthony sniggered, as Robert did his best not to do the same.

"Erm...thanks Sandy," Alex said awkwardly, doing his best to get out of her killer grip.

"Alright, back to the game," Anthony sniggered, coming to the rescue. Alex shot him a look that was a mixture between a grateful glance and a full-blown glare.

"Good luck John!" Sandy squealed, before skipping away.

"Oh, shut it," Alex muttered as his friends broke down laughing.

The second half began with vigour. Despite the friendly nature of their game, the opposing team didn't seem to like the fact that they were being beaten. Spurred on by the cheering crowd, and emboldened by the fact that there was no referee, their play turned vicious.

Alex winced as he watched Colin take another unneeded blow by a midfielder.

It didn't matter though, because the game soon ended with a victory in their favour. Robert grinned in triumph, while Colin and Anthony danced around singing "Go u-us! Go u-us! Go u-us!"

"They're a cheerful lot, aren't they?" Tim asked, amused.

"Yeah," Alex said. He was feeling rather wary around the boy, despite him not actually having lashed out intentionally against the defender.

"Well, I better get back. It'll be dinner soon, and I promised Drew I'd tell him about Professor Willard's lecture," Tim said, rolling his eyes, "Don't know why he had to go to Professor Saunders' lecture, no offence to your uncle or anything."

"None taken," Alex smiled.

"Well, see you around!" Tim said, before turning and jogging back up to the dormitories.

Alex didn't really give it that much more thought until that night when he was back in his own bed. His brain was whirling around so much that it was making sleep nigh-on impossible. Alex sighed, and let his thoughts run free. They whirled around his brain for a while before settling on Drew and Tim.

The two were definitely an enigma. Wrapped in a riddle. With a puzzle of a ribbon.

There was definitely something fishy going on with those two. Tim, whose real name was probably Matthew, demonstrated some pretty remarkable skill in his retaliation during their soccer game. And Drew...well, Alex hardly knew anything about that boy.

Alex groaned, before reaching out for his mobile, specially modified so that he'd be able to send email equivalent texts without any word limit. Mentally he formed his message inside his head, before typing it out:

_Hey guys, hope you're all doing okay._

_Nothing's really going on at this end. Hobbs isn't really doing anything suspicious. All the material in his lecture yesterday you could've gotten off a movie._

_Anyway, I'm texting because of two boys. They're names are Drew and Tim. Drew acts like he's much older than eighteen. Tim...well, let's just say that appearances aren't everything with him. They both have rather unusual accents...really familiar, but I can't place them. So I need a favour – can you get any information on those two? _

_Sorry if I woke you up,_

_Alex._

Typing in Rose's number, Alex pressed the send button, before putting his mobile away. Crawling back into his bed, he closed his eyes. Within moments he was asleep.

_BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!_

Alex groaned, opening his eyes before immediately closing them when the bright sunlight hit his eyes. The beeping didn't stop, and soon it forced Alex to get up.

Peering around his room, he saw his mobile lighting up continuously. It was making the beeping sound, and had made him wake up. Alex sighed, before reaching over and grabbing the God-damned phone.

_Message from R.A_

_Wow, it didn't take Rose long to reply_, were Alex's first thoughts. Interested, he opened Rose's message.

_Alex. _

_First of all, I'm bloody bored out of my mind. Second, you did wake me up. Third, you better listen closely to what I'm about to tell you, since I spent all night researching._

_I looked on the enrolment form for the Camp. There are two Tim's at the camp – Tim Boise and Timothy Auden. Not sure which one is yours. But there's only one Drew – Drew Wood. I've been able to track his movements._

_Drew is a bloody ghost._

_I have no idea where he came from. There's no records of anyone by the name of Drew Wood coming into the country in the past two months. I looked at all the international _and_ interstate flights and, well, nothing. I'll look further past the two months, but at this stage I'd say that it was an assumed name. You're going to have to find out more about him. I'll do my best from this end._

_As for Hobbs/Olsen, I've got some interesting information for you. When I was looking through the flight records for the past twelve months, I found his name listed several times. The man has been travelling in and out of the country for quite a while by the looks of things. The most travelled to countries are Israel, Australia, and London. No idea why MI6 couldn't pick him up when he was in our country...but there you go._

_Thing is, you-know-what is in Israel. And if he's had contact with them, then we're going to need to be a whole lot more prepared._

_I'll keep researching, and let you know what I find. K-unit say 'hi'...and also to 'get on with it'. Their words, not mine._

_Anyways, Ben's wife called too – could you let him know that he's in trouble for not finishing the tiling before leaving? Thanks._

_I'll chat to you soon. Keep safe._

_Rose._

Alex bit his lip, turning off his phone. Well, this certainly gave him food for thought.

They couldn't find Drew. At this stage, Alex completely agreed with him being under an assumed name. It was only by luck that he learnt of Tim's. He didn't think that the two would let slip another name.

And as for Hobbs...yes, Rose was right. If Hobbs was travelling to Israel so many times, there had to be a very good reason. And, with all Hobbs' contacts before he was fired from the CIA, then there was a very good chance that he'd done what Rose thought he did.

Contacted the Mossaad.

And if that was the case, then this mission just got a whole lot more difficult.

The Mossaad weren't known as the world's most ruthless intelligence service in the world for nothing.

.:X:.

_As promised, this chapter has been posted before Sunday! I think I deserve a reward...!_

_So, the plot thickens dramatically...and now the Mossaad are involved..._

_What did you think? Was it alright? Readable? Made you want to kill yourself in order to not read anymore? __**Tell me in a review!**_

_Remember, reviewers make the world go 'round...and the more reviews I get, the happier I'll be, and the happier I am, the more updates you'll get. See, win-win situation!_

_Anyways, thanks so much for reading!_

_Love Chariots99_


	7. Totally Awesome

_OMG! I was so ecstatic about the response I got from the last chapter that I just _had_ to write and post this...bad idea since now I have to cram for my exam...oh well, since you guys did your bit and reviewed, I'm doing my bit and writing & posting! See, win-win situation! Don't you just love these?_

_Anyway, on a completely different note, a lot of people are asking (*cough* threatening me with bodily harm *cough*) to bring back Desiree Swan. All I can say is, wait and see. Only one person so far has guessed how she's coming back, and if you think you know too, please keep it to yourself! Thank you! Oh and to the people who _do_ think they know – yay for me!_

_Oh, and thanks to whoever it was for telling me that *Mossad* only has one 'a'..._

**Chapter Seven**

After receiving such news, Alex spent most of the morning in a state of extreme paranoia, though he did his best to hide it from the others. Thankfully, Colin had decided – for whatever reason – to spend the day speaking in Shakespearian, which meant that most people were more focussed on his behaviour than on Alex's.

"John? Mayest thou please pass thee thy crystal bowl of water-filled plant?" Colin asked, holding out his hand.

Alex rolled his eyes before grabbing the plastic lettuce bowl and thrusting it in his direction.

"Totally awesome - I mean, I thank thee from the bottom of thy heart."

Robert sighed, doing his best to block out his friend's weirdness.

It was near the end of lunch time. Most people had already left the cafeteria to spend some time out in the sun before the next lot of lectures began. Alex and Colin, however, had been dragged by Robert to attend Ben's lecture, which ran overtime. As a result, the three were eating a last minute lunch with the others who had been in Professor Saunders lecture.

"What do you guys want to do after lunch?" Robert asked.

"Thouest prefers if we spenst thy time basking out in the glory of thy sun."

"Erm...I'm going to hang out in my room for a while. Get some peace and quiet," Alex said with a meaningful glance at Colin. Robert sighed, before nodding.

As Alex made his way towards his dorm, he walked past what appeared at first glance to be an empty room. Until he saw the two people in it.

Alex's eyes widened, and he immediately diverted his course in the thankfully empty corridor. He pressed himself up against the wall just outside the room, and peered inside rather cautiously.

Hobbs, or rather Olsen, and Tim were talking. And it looked like the two were old friends.

"...I'm keeping an eye out on him, but nothing so far," Tim was saying.

"They must've trained him well. Probably why he's still alive, though they almost got him when he left," Olsen said, "They never forgive, never forget."

Alex shuddered slightly upon hearing that phrase.

"So what do we do with him?" Tim asked

"You keep an eye on him, and I'll contact headquarters. If he puts even a _toe_ out of line, don't hesitate to act–"

Someone cleared their throat softly next to Alex's ear, causing the spy to jump in shock. Thankfully though, neither Hobbs nor Tim heard, and for that Alex allowed himself a sigh of relief before turning to face...

"Drew?"

Fierce brown eyes glared up at him. "What the _hell _do you think you're doing?" Drew hissed.

"Okay, I know it looks bad but–"

Alex never finished his sentence, as one of Drew's small hands shot out and curled around Alex's arm in a death grip. He found himself being dragged bodily away from the empty-bar-Tim-and-Hobbs room, before he was shoved into what looked like Drew's dorm room.

"Do you have any idea what they would've done if they'd caught you?" Drew asked after slamming his door shut.

"Erm–"

"No you didn't!" Drew all but shouted, "You–"

Abruptly, Drew cut himself off. One of his hands flew up to cover his eye. Pain flashed across his face before it disappeared again. He never took his hand away from his eye.

Rather startled by the change, Alex blinked several times before asking hesitantly, "Erm, Drew? You alright?"

"Yes, fine," Drew answered rather tersely, though he didn't look back at Alex.

A tense moment passed before he broke it again.

"Look John, you need to be more careful," Drew said, his voice much softer than before. One of his hands was still cupped around his eye. He turned and opened the door. Taking that as a cue, Alex walked out of the room. Drew averted his eye – the other still hidden behind his hand – as Alex left, determinedly not making eye contact with the boy.

The door slammed shut behind Alex. Confused, the boy stared at it for a full minute, pondering the mystery that was Drew. Well, it would have been longer, had Robert chosen that minute to interrupt.

"John! There you are! I need you around to keep my sanity!" He said, grabbing Alex's arm and dragging him away.

"Wait, what? Wow, Robert, what...where are we going?" Alex asked, finally taking note of their current direction.

"Hiding," Robert answered.

"Um...you're going towards a lecture theatre, you know," Alex said with some hesitation as Robert dragged him into an already crowded theatre.

"I know," Robert answered, "But this lecture is at the same time as Professor Willard's. There's no way Colin would come to this one over the other – erm, no offence to your uncle or anything," Robert added as they sat down.

"None taken," Alex said, before doing a double take as he spotted Sandy climbing up the stairs. He tried to shuffle down slightly so that he wouldn't be spotted.

Unaware of Alex's dilemma, Robert sighed. "I know Colin's by best friend and everything, but _man_ sometimes he annoys me! I don't know how I've _lived_ this long without becoming chronically insane! I'm like a medical miracle or something..."

Alex let Robert mutter on under his breath. Right now, his situation had become slightly more dire – Sandy had spotted him and was making her way towards him with excited haste.

"Hey John!" She squealed, pulling Alex into a tight hug. "How are you? I saw you playing soccer; you were awesome!"

"Er...um...yeah..." Alex stammered. He was infinitely grateful when, ten seconds later, Ben walked in and began his lecture.

Robert, Alex noticed, immediately stopped his muttering the moment Ben opened his mouth. He moved to the edge of his seat and stared at Ben with wide eyes, fully engrossed in whatever the lecture was about. As for Alex, he couldn't have told you a thing if his life depended on it...something on genomic recombining? What does that even _mean_?

Figuring that everyone else would be too engrossed with Ben to notice him, Alex surreptitiously glanced around. His suspicions confirmed – though in a camp full of nerds, it wasn't really rocket science that everyone (even Sandy) would understand and be totally engrossed in what the lecturer was talking about – Alex sighed and leaned back on his chair. It was going to be a long day...

"John? Oi, John! Wake up!"

The next moment, Alex found himself being roughly woken. Startled, he instinctively reached out and grabbed at the hand, twisting it into a rather vulnerable position where he could break it with even the slightest pressure.

Then Robert's startled face registered in Alex's mind. He let go of his friend's hand as if it were burning.

"Oh man! I'm so sorry! I–"

"Nah, it's cool!" Robert laughed. "You have to show me how to do that though! That was a totally awesome prank though! And I totally fell for it! Here I was thinking that you were asleep..."

"Oh, um, yeah...haha – got you," Alex said feebly; it was lucky, really, that both Robert and Sandy were laughing so hard at the "prank" that they didn't notice. Alex glanced around and realised that the entire lecture theatre was empty. Wow, he just slept through Ben's lecture...hopefully the man wouldn't have noticed.

"So, erm...what are we doing now?" Alex asked, hoping that no-one brought up the topic of whatever-the-hell the lecture had been about.

"Dinner of course," Robert said, looking at Alex like he was crazy. "I really hope Colin's gotten over his 'Speak-like-Shakespeare Day' thing. Otherwise I may have to leave dinner early."

Sandy laughed a really, sharp, ear-splitting laugh. "He thinks he's so funny! And – ow!"

Sandy suddenly cried out, her hand slamming up to her eye.

"Sandy? What...you alright?" Robert asked as the two boys moved either side of her.

"Um...yeah, I think I am," Sandy said, slowly removing her hand.

"What happened?" Alex asked, frowning.

Sandy stuck out her hand. "It's my contact lens – it dislodged and fell out."

Sitting in the palm of her hand was an emerald green contact lens, looking perfectly harmless and innocent. "They're new," Sandy explained, "So they take a while to get used to. Plus I never used to wear coloured contact lenses either."

"So, why are you now?" Alex asked, staring at her one hazel and one emerald green eye.

"Well actually, my best friend dressed up as Lily Evans – you know, from Harry Potter? Yeah, it was for a birthday party. Anyway, she bought a whole stack of these coloured lenses. Then after the party, she had like piles left over, so I got them," Sandy finished.

"Right..."

"Yeah. I'm really only wearing them right now because mine have run out, and it's going to be another few days before my new prescription gets here. Until then, I've got to put up with these lenses. Sorry guys, I have to go fix this – right now everything's really blurry," Sandy smiled at them, "I'll see you guys at dinner!"

"Bye Sandy," Alex and Robert said together.

"Wow, I didn't even _realise_ her eyes weren't the same colour! Wow, I feel like such a good friend," Robert said.

Alex smiled, though rather distractingly. Robert led the way to the dining hall, berating himself for being 'such an unobservant friend'.

.:X:.

_Oooo! The plot thickens...even more!_

_Oh, and by the way guys, I don't wear contact lenses. My friend does, so what's described in this chapter is probably totally wrong and just a figment of my imagination..._

_How did you like the chapter? Was it good? Bad? Horrendous? __**Tell me in a review!**_

_Oh, and thanks again to all those who reviewed the last chapter! The response was so overwhelming, that I _had_ to write this. So...this chapter was dedicated to all my reviewers!_

_Please review!_

_Love Chariots99_

_Ps – did you spot the references to A Very Potter Musical?_


	8. Too Close for Comfort

**Chapter Eight**

That night, Alex sat in his chair, gazing out the window at the night sky. He couldn't sleep, and he wasn't stupid enough to even try. Instead, he puzzled over the mystery that was now growing at camp.

First and foremost would have to be Drew. The boy was a bloody puzzle, wrapped in an enigma, tied with a riddle. First he completely gave Alex the cold shoulder. Then, he starts looking out for Alex, pulling him away from possible discovery. And then...

Then his contacts dislodged.

For Alex now recognised what had happened in Drew's room, when he'd clapped his hand over his eye in pain and refused to look back at Alex. After the way Sandy's contacts had come out right in front of him in the lecture theatre, Alex was sure that was what happened. It meant that Drew either had bad eyesight and hated wearing glasses or...

Or he was trying to hide his identity too.

_But why_? Alex puzzled. Why change your eye colour? All MI6 had done for Alex was to dye his hair, and that had been enough to keep him from being recognised. It probably helped that he'd also had a haircut before leaving England, so his hair was quite different to how he used to wear it.

Why would you go as far as to put in contacts on top of that? Was it extreme paranoia? Or was there another undiscovered factor in this growing mystery?

Alex shook his head, annoyed.

He'd already let Rose in on the contact bit, and she promised to look into those too. But so far, they were getting nowhere, and fast. Whoever Drew might be, he was definitely good at covering his own tracks.

And then there was Tim. Or Matthew, as was his apparent real name.

The boy was definitely conspiring with James Olsen/Professor Hobbs. It really sounded like they were out to kill someone. Or at least, hurt them very badly.

_... They never forgive, never forget..._

That was what James Olsen had said. For a moment, Alex shuddered again. That was definitely Scorpia's motto. Which meant, there must be someone at Camp who had been in contact with Scorpia and managed to escape with their lives. Like himself.

Alex sighed. He dearly hoped upon every shooting star out there in the universe that they weren't talking about him. Or if they were, that they didn't recognise him at all.

It was almost twelve. Midnight. The full moon shone high up in the night sky.

Alex found his eyes tearing themselves away from the stars, twinkling in the night. Almost by their own free will, they instead focused downwards upon the shadowy grounds. At that moment, two blurry shadows moved into the moonlight. And Alex froze, for he clearly recognised the boy – Tim. The next moment, the other shadow turned his face towards the moon, and allowed Alex a glimpse.

It was Professor Hobbs.

Making up his mind, Alex grabbed his coat and sprinted out of his room, surprisingly quietly. The corridor was a cacophony of snoring and nightmarish murmurs. Alex skidded down the stairs pulling his iPod out of his coat pocket and turning it on. Quickly he set the iPod on the correct tune, before slowly edging out of the building.

As Alex hid amongst the shadows far enough away not to draw attention to himself, he once again thanked all the deities out there for Mr Smithers. For the iPod was currently allowing him to hear each and every word being spoken, without him needing to risk exposure.

"..._just been in contact with the Mossad,_" A voice Alex recognised as being Hobb's said.

"_We just got confirmation from headquarters,_" Tim – erm, Matthew said, "_So it's definitely a go."_

"_I vote we act tomorrow night – he won't expect it so soon."_

"_You do realise we're leaving for that field trip in two days, don't you? If we act tomorrow and fail, we open ourselves up to all sorts of revenge. Plus, he may have a back-up team at the ready just in case. No, we can't risk it, it would be safer to act during or after the field trip."_

There was quiet laughter, before Hobbs spoke again. "_Ah Matt, you're good I'll give you that. But you still have a lot to learn. The target had been trained by Scorpia, when they were at their peak! He'll be expecting an attack the further into this camp we get. If we get in first and finish him off, we've got nothing to worry about!"_

Silence. And even from where Alex was, he could feel the tension encompassed in that silence.

"_Olsen. I may not be experienced like you,_" Matt began. His tone was so cold, so deadly, that for a moment Alex was sure Drew had replaced him, "_But let's not forget which one of us was kicked out of the CIA for acting too hastily, and ending up putting a very important suspect in the asylum."_

James Olsen growled. "_Why do you always have to bring that up?"_

"_Because that proves that you're not as good as you think you are,"_ Matthew said in a rather smug tone.

"_And _this_ is why I don't work with newbies!_" Olsen sighed.

Alex bit his lip, trying hard not to move. Pins and needles were seriously affecting his legs. His feet had already gone numb.

"Bugger, bugger," he muttered under his breath, trying hard not to move for fear of discovery, "Crap!"

His leg suddenly gave off an involuntary jerk. A stick under his foot suddenly snapped, the sound echoing loud and clear.

There was a tense pause, in which Alex repeatedly swore in his mind.

"Who's there?" Hobbs shouted suddenly, breaking through the silence.

Alex winced, trying his best not to give himself away. He could hear rapid footsteps, closing in fast on where he was crouched. He was hardly breathing, hoping against hope that they wouldn't see him at all, that they would just walk pass where he was standing.

Suddenly, a firm hand wrapped itself around his mouth. Someone stood behind him, breathing extremely lightly.

"Don't say anything," a soft voice breathed into his ear. Unable to communicate, Alex nodded his agreement.

The hand disappeared and the figure moved past Alex.

"Come out right now!" Hobbs shouted again. He was much closer this time.

"Calm down!" Alex's rescuer barked.

Alex felt his eyebrows shoot up at that familiar voice – a moment later, Drew Wood stepped out into the moonlight to face Hobbs and Matthew, his expression calm.

"What are you doing?" Hobbs asked, surprise causing his words to come out louder than anticipated.

"Spying on you," Drew said calmly, "You never said you were meeting up tonight."

"I thought you could use the sleep," Matthew spoke up, sounding slightly abashed, "You haven't slept properly in three days."

Drew sneered. "As much as I would love to argue about my sleeping patterns, I suggest you move this conversation inside. You don't know who's out there, listening."

Hobbs and Matthew exchanged glances before nodding their goodbyes at Drew and walking away. Drew watched them go through cool brown eyes, before turning his piercing gaze back on Alex.

"Really," he said softly, "I thought you knew better."

Drew sounded almost _disappointed_ at Alex. The boy shook his head, before leaving Alex alone, still rooted to the spot.

Alex let out a shaky breath. That had been too close for comfort.


	9. Crystal Blue Eyes

_Yes, I know I updated hell fast. But I was scared of the threats of bodily harm if I didn't...so, I'd like to apologise for it in advance if you feel that it is substandard._

**Chapter Nine**

"...And how come you never told me about this field trip?" Alex asked.

Ben sighed. "I thought I would get an amusing reaction from you. Now that you've been whining all afternoon, I've started to regret my decision."

"Good."

It was about three in the afternoon. Ben had no lectures, and Alex had begged off his, telling his friends that he wanted to spend more time with his uncle. They understood and promised to take good notes for him. Nothing Alex had said could dissuade them.

Now he sat in Ben's half-room, half-office, a completely revolting cup of coffee abandoned on the table.

"So, what's the field trip about?" Alex asked, lounging back on the chair.

Ben shrugged. "Dunno. I wasn't really listening when they had the meeting. But there was something about a three hour train ride to some caves. At least...I think they said caves."

Alex rolled his eyes. "You're of no help whatsoever. I hope you know that."

"Oh, I know."

The sat in a comfortable silence for a while, with Alex rocking back on his chair while Ben read some important looking document or other.

"So, have you found anything interesting yet?" Ben asked after a while. His tone was casual, almost like he was inquiring after Alex's health, or commenting on the weather. Alex however, picked up on the hidden implication.

He shrugged. "Not really," he answered.

They used very vague words on the off chance that someone was outside listening.

"Well, it's only been a few days," Ben said, "You'll find something eventually."

"I hope so, otherwise my stay here would be _dreadfully_ boring," Alex said, grinning as Ben rolled his eyes.

"Go bother someone else," he whined, waving his hand in dismissal. Still grinning, Alex left Ben to his own devices.

There was still at least fifteen minutes before his friends were out of their respective lectures. With nothing to do, Alex went back to his room, figuring that he could send Rose a message to fill her in. However when he picked his phone, he found that Rose had beaten him to it.

_Alex, how've you been? Hopefully well – better than us I'd assume, since we're being worked to death here. And seriously, for SAS men, you'd think that they'd be trained in how _not_ to whinge._

_Okay, I actually have a reason for this message, and not just to vent my frustration._

Here Alex paused, letting out a soft snort of amusement.

_I don't actually know where to start..._

_Okay. I was looking through the airport footage again when I found out something highly unusual. On the Monday a week before we arrived in America, at exactly 7:32 pm, all the footage was cut for an hour._

Alex felt his eyebrow rise up. An hour was long enough for someone to get through customs and out of the airport.

_So I made some enquiries as to why. You have no idea how bloody long it took to get an answer. Anyways, some 'higher authority' had made them cut that particular section out. After a bit of persuasion_ – Alex grinned, knowing exactly what Rose's brand of 'persuasion' involved – _they said that it had been the Mossad who had forced them._

"Mossad..." Alex murmured softly.

_I have no way of getting that footage. It's in Mossad's hands now, and I doubt they'd want to share. _

_Then you sent me that message last night, about Drew wearing contact lenses. So I pulled in some favours with just about every living person on this planet. I started sorting through the list that arrived early this morning – apparently, a threat from MI6 is just as useful here as it was back in England._

_Okay, so I've got a list of every contact manufacturer in the country. I've crossed off the ones ordered by optometrists, and the ones that are catered to a particular vision. I've only got the coloured contact list – so I hope you're judgement was right about that._

_As I was looking through this list though, I found something very interesting. You see, the list basically tells me who ordered what – there's a huge order placed by the CIA for hazel contacts. But one name in particular stood out. AIS._

Alex froze. His breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened with shock._ No_..._there was no way...was there?_

_Alex, you know what the AIS are capable of. I don't think I have to remind you. And if Drew really is from the AIS, then he's dangerous. Please Alex, don't do anything stupid!_

_Okay, I know you're glaring at me now_ – and indeed he was – _so I'll just move onto the next piece of news. This has nothing to do with the mission, but I just thought...well, I thought you may like to know this._

_MI6 contacted me about two hours ago. One of their scouts in Australia picked this up a couple of weeks ago, and they've only just managed to get the message back to headquarters._

_Right, I'm ranting here. So, do you remember...five years ago, when some AIS agents came to England?_

Alex almost snorted. How could he forget?

_There was a man. Jacob Wood. I...well, I may have had a crush on him at the time..._

Well, that certainly caught Alex's attention.

_But...I don't know how to say this. Um...he...Alex, he's...well...dead._

Alex was sure he stopped breathing. Dimly, his eyes skimmed over the rest of the message, but he couldn't recall anything. Perhaps something about a mission gone wrong...

His mind was working overtime, the dots connecting in his head faster than he could blink. He wasn't aware of the phone slipping from between his numb fingers, landing with a dull _thump_ on the carpet.

Drew Wood. Jacob _Wood._

In a flash, he was out of his room, hurtling down the – thankfully – empty corridor. It seemed that in no time, he was in front of Drew's room, bursting through the door and causing the lock to be ripped right out of the door.

He didn't notice. The only thing that penetrated his numb mind at that current moment was Drew, sitting up suddenly on his bed and staring at Alex with wide startled eyes.

Crystal blue eyes.

.

.

_Hm...erm..._

_Yeah, I'm kinda nervous..._

_I think this chapter turned out to be complete and utter garbage, but nothing I did could make it better...so please don't kill me for wasting your time._

_Thanks for reading guys. Oh, and _**please REVIEW!**

_Love Chariots99_


	10. Love and Lost

_OMG! I AM SO SORRY THAT I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN AGES!_

**Chapter ten**

_The only thing that penetrated his numb mind at that current moment was Drew, sitting up suddenly on his bed and staring at Alex with wide startled eyes._

_Crystal blue eyes._

.

Alex stood staring into those eyes for at least a minute, his entire jaw hanging slack in shock. He tried to speak, but all that came out of his unresponsive throat was a strange gurgle.

Those crystal blue eyes rolled upwards in exasperation, before Drew got off the bed to slam the door shut. The loud noise echoing around the small room was all it took for Alex to snap out of his numb state.

"Dessi?" He whispered. Even after four years, the name seemed to roll off his tongue with ease.

"Hello, Rider. Long time no see."

Dimly, in some far corner of his mind, Alex registered the use of his last name. But at that current moment, he had far more pressing matters. Like –

"Why are you dressed as a boy?" He asked. It was only after those words left his mouth that he realised how stupid they sounded.

It appeared that Desiree agreed with his subconscious; she sent him a cold glare that had never been directed at him before.

"Because I can," she said, her tone causing Alex to shiver.

Something was wrong. This wasn't the Dessi he remembered. She had changed in ways that Alex couldn't begin to understand.

"Dessi? What...what's wrong?" He asked hesitantly.

A sneer made its way across her face. "Really Rider? You expect me to just _regale_ everything to _you_?" She snorted.

"Why not? That's what you used to do," Alex said.

Something flickered across her face. "I know," she said softly, crystal blue eyes lost in a flashback.

There was a momentary silence before Dessi seemed to shake herself out of some memory. "Look Rider, what do you want?"

Alex flinched slightly at the harsh tone. This wasn't the Dessi he remembered. It was like some shell had encased the girl he once knew, leaving behind the stone cold mask that was currently worn on Dessi's face.

"I want the old Dessi back."

He was unaware that he'd actually spoken; in fact, his lips were so numb at that moment that he was surprised he _could_ speak. But nonetheless, his soft words hung like a shadow in the room, engulfing the silence.

A pained expression crossed Dessi's face, and in the vulnerable moment that followed Alex recognised the girl he'd once knew. Once loved.

"That's going to be rather difficult," she whispered hoarsely.

"Why?"

It was a simple question. And yet, as soon as the single word left his mouth, a tirade of emotions crossed the girl's face. Love, hate, anger, loss, all flickered through haunted blue eyes. A moment that seemed to last a hundred years flew by.

"I grew," Dessi said, "I loved. I lost."

"You gave up," Alex stated.

"So would you!" Desiree shouted. Alex almost grinned in triumph at cracking through the girl's shell. Almost. "I had no-one left in the world! No-one to worry about me, no-one to care whether or not I exist! They only care about whether I'm fit enough to send out again, and again!"

A tear escaped those crystal blue eyes, though Alex didn't think that Dessi noticed. Dimly, he hoped that the rooms were sound-proof against the girl's shouting, but the next moment her voice dropped violently in volume.

"I never got to say goodbye," Dessi whispered, sitting down heavily on the bed.

Hesitantly, Alex sat down beside the girl. When it became clear that he was not about to be physically harmed, he asked, "Goodbye to who?"

Dessi took in a deep breath. "Derik. Dean. Everyone," she choked. "Terry quit when I was under cover. They replaced him and Dean without even telling me. And Jake..." Her breath hitched in her throat, "I wasn't even allowed at his funeral."

"Dessi –"

"No! Don't even _think_ about pitying me, Rider!" Dessi shouted, rounding on Alex with fierce eyes.

"Erm, I wasn't. I was actually letting you know that someone's knocking on the door."

Crystal blue eyes widened in surprise as Desiree turned back to face the door. Someone was pounding rather vigorously on it, demanding to be let in.

"I better get that," she muttered, getting off the bed.

Alex reached out, snagging one of her wrists to pull her back. "You're contacts," he whispered when she blinked at him in confusion.

Dessi shook her head. "If it's who I think it is, I won't need them."

Reluctantly Alex let go of the girl. She walked over to the door, undoing the lock before opening it just a crack. When she'd confirmed the identity of the person on the other side, she let them in before locking the door again.

Alex's mouth dropped as James Olsen walked into the room.

"You!" He shouted in alarm; the next moment he'd flown across the room, intent on getting the man far away.

What he wasn't expecting was for Desiree to move in between the two, grabbing Alex and pinning him onto the ground.

"What the hell is your problem Rider?" She shouted as James looked on in alarm.

"He's dangerous, Dessi! He isn't who he says he is!" Alex yelled back, his face squished against the carpet.

Above him, Desiree shook her head and tutted several times, before moving off Alex and helping him to his feet. Alex couldn't help but notice the restraining hand she left on his arm, nor the warning look she threw James, who was currently glaring daggers at Alex.

"What kind of lies has MI6 been feeding you now?" Dessi asked.

"Lies? What are you –?"

"Rider, sit down on the bed. Olsen, you take the chair. I don't want either of you within two meters of each other until I get an explanation," Dessi said, shoving Alex towards the bed. Alex sat down rather reluctantly, keeping a wary eye on the man across the room. Dessi stayed between the two of them, a solid barrier to separate the two.

"Right. Rider, what the hell was that?" Dessi asked, her voice dangerously polite.

"That's James Olsen. He's dangerous and unstable, and the entire reason I'm here!" Alex cried in exasperation, "He's an ex-CIA agent who tortured one of his suspects into insanity during an interrogation!"

Dessi sighed.

"Olsen? You want to tell Agent Rider here what the MI6 are missing out on?" She asked, turning to face a slightly astounded James Olsen.

"Erm, whatever you say, boss," he said, slightly troubled. Clearly he was doubtful as to whether he could actually trust Alex, but a glare from Dessi sent him into speech. "I'm not dangerous, nor unstable. I never tortured anyone into insanity. And when I was working for the CIA, it was as an undercover operative."

Desiree rubbed her temples, trying to ward away the oncoming headache. "Okay, we're getting nowhere and fast," she muttered before facing James again.

"Olsen, go and find Agent Lake and bring him here. He should be in Willard's lecture."

James nodded respectfully before leaving the room. After locking the door again, Dessi turned to face one highly confused Alex Rider.

"Listen closely Rider, 'cause what I'm about to say I will say only once."

.

.

_Mwahahahahaha. Yeah, sorry about the cliffie. But I know I haven't updated in soooo long, I just had to get this up and running. Sorry about its substandard quality..._

_I'll get the explanation up and running ASAP!_

_Love Chariots99_


	11. The Explanation

**Chapter 11**

"Listen closely Rider, 'cause what I'm about to say I will say only once," Desiree sighed, rubbing her temples.

Alex blinked up at her, before nodding and pretending to lock his lips. Four years ago, that should have at least elicited a smile from the girl. Now though, she barely noticed before sitting down on the bed next to him, making sure to put a rather large distance between the two.

"James Olsen never worked for the CIA."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Huh? But –"

"He was sent as an undercover operative," Dessi went on, pretending that Alex hadn't even spoken. "Olsen is one of the top ranking spies for Mossad. It was on their order that he began 'working' for the CIA."

"Then...then what was with him torturing a suspect into insanity?" Alex frowned.

"He never tortured anyone," Dessi said, rolling her eyes, "The CIA just like to exaggerate. No, the man that was supposedly tortured into insanity was actually one of the ring leaders of a counterintelligence ring operating in several different countries. His name was Ali Saied," Dessi added.

"Erm...was?" Alex asked hesitantly.

The girl shot him a look. "Ali Saied was the sixth highest on Mossad's_ Most Wanted_ list. When he found out that Olsen was from the Mossad, he freaked out. His brain cracked under the stress, and he was shipped off to the asylum before Olsen could get anything useful out of him. Right now, Saied has no idea who he is. Whatever information he once knew is officially lost in his fragmented mind. I doubt we'll be able to get it out of him again."

A slight shiver ran up Alex's spine as Desiree continued.

"So Olsen was fired for scaring the suspect into insanity, and the CIA fired Olsen since they were apparently under the impression that Saied was tortured," Dessi added carelessly.

"So...Olsen isn't dangerous?"

"Have you not been listening to anything I said?" Desiree snapped. "He was trained by the bleedin' Mossad! Of course he's dangerous!"

"Okay..." Alex trailed off, before deciding to drop the topic, "So, why are you working with him, anyway?"

Dessi sighed. "There was a counterintelligence ring operating in Australia," she said grimly, a haunting look passing across her eyes, "We stopped it, but at a price."

Desiree bit her lip, almost like she was trying to stop herself crying.

"Mossad found out about one of the final ring leaders, and contacted us for help," Dessi said when she got herself back under control. "I was flown here three days later."

"I see...so, can I ask who Matthew is?"

Dessi raised an eyebrow at him. "I would ask how you even knew his name, but I'd rather not know," she said coolly. "Agent Matthew Lake is one of the new agents assigned to Unit One...my unit," she added in a whisper, looking down at her hands.

Alex looked at the girl worriedly, before reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder. Desiree flinched rather violently, shifting slightly to dislodge the hand before her brain even registered the fact that it hadn't been a threat. A look of regret flickered across her face before it morphed back into its mask again.

"I heard Matthew and Olsen talking the other night..." Alex began, "And they were talking about a target trained by Scorpia, with a back-up team in place. At the time I thought they were talking about me but now...I'm not so sure."

"You know, the world doesn't revolve around you, Rider," Dessi said. For the first time since Alex had rudely barged into the girl's room, he heard a hint of amusement in her voice as the corner of her mouth twitched upwards. A moment later, it was gone.

"So they were talking about the counterintelligence leader?"

"Well...no, not really. They were talking about one of the men who work for the leader. A right idiot if I ever saw one, but his wide knowledge on chemical weapons and also on the weaknesses of the human body make him a rather intimidating opponent."

"Who is it?" Alex asked.

"Brad Willard, one of the lecturers at this camp. Like I said, a right idiot. He didn't even bother changing his name," Dessi rolled her eyes, "Scorpia taught him all he knows about chemical warfare though, so we're a little worried about that. Especially since we currently aren't able to get into his room to scout out his things."

"You're worried that he brought chemical weapons onto the camp?"

"No. I'm worried about what he's going to do with the chemical weapons he brought onto the camp," Dessi said grimly. "His backup team are experienced when it comes to this kind of thing, but he isn't used to working under pressure. I'm worried that he'll snap and fire off God-knows-what in the camp, and kill everyone."

Alex opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off with several loud bangs against the door. Dessi rolled her eyes at their impatience before crossing the room and unlocking the door. James Olsen walked back in, accompanied by one Agent Matthew Lake, who tossed Alex a look before glancing at Dessi enquiringly.

Desiree locked the door before rolling her eyes. "Matthew, this is Agent Rider of the MI6. He's going to be with us for the rest of our mission."

Matthew gave Alex a piercing glance before nodding in welcome. Alex couldn't help but notice the way he shifted ever so slightly closer to Desiree.

"He can't be working with us," Olsen said.

"Oh? And pray tell, why not?" Dessi asked, crystal blue eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"Because," Olsen went on, "This is _our_ jurisdiction! MI6 have no claim over it!" Had he not been a trained Mossad agent, his tone would currently be classified as a whine.

"Really? Well unfortunately for you, MI6 is _my_ jurisdiction. And since Agent Rider works for the MI6, he's also working with us." Though Dessi spoke very calmly, it would've taken a complete moron to not notice the dangerous undercurrent to her voice. Olsen definitely noticed it, and he immediately backed off the topic.

"Anymore complaints? No? Good," Dessi said, before turning to a confused looking Matthew. "What did you find out?"

Matthew blinked a couple of times before his brain clicked back into gear. "He was talking about BZ gases today. Mainly historical uses and that."

Desiree's eyebrows rose. "BZ? As in benzilate gas?"

"Yeah," Matthew said rather grimly.

Alex looked on in confusion. "What's wrong with that?"

Dessi sighed. "Remember how I said Willard is a chemical expert?" At Alex's affirmative nod, she went on. "Quinuclidinyl Benzilate, or BZ gas as it's more commonly known, is a military incapacitating agent. It's quite dangerous, especially since it's odourless so you can't detect it until too late."

"How does it get into your body?" Alex asked.

"That's the thing about BZ gas," Olsen said, "It can be released into the air or dissolved into a solvent for ingestion. Makes our lives very hard."

"BZ gas affects your nervous system," Dessi carried on, "It can screw up your vision, your heart rate, and your mind. You start to see things that aren't there, start to believe things that aren't true."

"There was a case last year," Matthew added, "A marine was subjected to 10 micrograms of this stuff. He...he ended up killing himself when he ripped out his eyeball."

Alex winced.

"So, you think that he has this...BZ gas?" He asked hesitantly.

"Almost certainly. Willard has never been one to keep quiet about his achievements – and it's quite an achievement to smuggle BZ gas into this camp. What I want to know is how the man got his hands on the stuff in the first place," Dessi scowled. "Its deadliness means that the military keeps an extra close eye on where their BZ gas goes."

"It should easy to trace, though," Matthew said.

"Okay then, you're in charge of tracing it. And Olsen, you help him." Dessi ordered. When the two gave her stricken looks, she all but shouted, "Now! Go!"

Without a backward glance, the two were out of the room, leaving Alex sitting with a rather bewildered expression on his face.

"Er...what just happened?" He asked as Dessi pulled out a small plastic container and unscrewed the lid. As he watched, the girl drew out a small brown contact lens, before carefully putting it into her eye. After repeating the process a couple of times, she blinked rather rapidly before the contact lenses settled into place.

"You look better with blue eyes," Alex said.

"Maybe, but they were too obvious," Dessi replied, turning her head as she put her contact case away. But not before Alex caught sight of a slight blush gracing the girl's cheeks. He almost grinned in victory.

"Anyway, I just sent those two off to get in contact with military headquarters. Hopefully they'll also _think_ to contact the NCIS, since they were the ones who were actually in charge of the marine case last year," Dessi added. Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder. "Rider, are you coming?"

"Where?" Alex asked, getting up off the bed.

"We're going to pay a visit to a certain Professor Saunders," Dessi said, a trace of a smile on her lips.

"How –?"

"How did I know he was Ben Daniels?"

"Yeah," Alex breathed, looking at Dessi with admiration.

"Let's just say...I have a good memory."

.

.

_Well, hopefully you all followed the explanation..._

_So how did you like that chapter? Was it good? Did it make you want to puke? Please do let me know what you thought! __**REVIEW!**_

_Anyways, I promise the action will pick up in the next few chapters!_

_Please review!  
Love Chariots99_

_By the way, did any of you catch the episode of NCIS I was referring to? Lol..._


	12. Split Up

**Chapter 12**

Alex sighed in boredom, his head resting against the cool window pane as the countryside rushed by in a blur of colours.

Twenty odd people from their camp were sitting with Alex on the train, as they set off on their field trip. Turns out, they were investigating caves – their history, their formation, and who knows what else.

Sitting opposite Alex, Robert was fast asleep. Out of all of Alex's friends, Robert had been the only one assigned to this time. With about a hundred or so children attending the Bayswater camp, the directors had split the children up into groups of twenty or so, and sent them all to different locations on their field trip.

Each group was allocated two adult chaperones. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you looked at it, Professor Brad Willard was one of their chaperones. The other was some maths professor who was apparently one of the teachers at Bayswater (according to Robert).

Ben Daniels had been allocated to some other group, and nothing he'd done could change it. Olsen too, had been sorted to some other group.

In a stroke of luck, Alex had been assigned to the same group as Desiree and Matthew. He was happier about the former as compared to the latter. Ever since they'd been introduced, Matthew had taken to ignoring Alex, and trying to make him look bad whenever Dessi was around. Alex wasn't sure why that was, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the other boy was jealous.

Dessi, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice the affection being shown to her at all.

They'd been travelling for at least five hours now, since eight in the morning. Everyone on the train (in their carriage) was asleep – everyone but Alex. Which meant that the boy was _extremely_ bored. Professor Willard and the other professor were in a different carriage. It was closer to the front of the train, and apparently it served alcohol. Damn adults.

Alex sighed again, shifting slightly in his seat and trying to get comfortable. His eyes fell on Desiree. He seemed to be taking note of her an awful lot, of the way her short hair fell across her face, the smooth curve of her lips, the...

Alex mentally shook himself. He could not afford to be thinking like that, not when he didn't know whether she still felt the same way.

Almost as if feeling someone staring at her, Desiree stirred slightly, before opening sleepy brown eyes. She looked around a little before her eyes connected with Alex's. The girl cocked her head, before slowly getting up so as not to disturb her partner, who was still asleep beside her.

"What's up?" She asked, taking the spare seat next to Alex.

"Nothing much," Alex shrugged.

"Then why aren't you asleep?"

"Why aren't you?" Alex shot back, a smile tugging at his lips.

Desiree rolled her eyes. "I was up all last night sorting through the twenty-three different distributors of BZ gas. I don't know _why_ Olsen couldn't do that himself, being Mossad and all. And Matthew..." Dessi broke off with a groan.

"And...?"

"And, it's not good. Olsen got in contact with the NCIS. I must say, they weren't too happy about giving us any information – some guy, Agent Gibbs I think, didn't trust us. But one of the members of his team is from the Mossad, and she apparently knows Olsen," Dessi said, looking slightly confused at the chain of relations.

"Well, she told us about the case they had solved last year. Apparently some guy had enough BZ gas to knock out an entire city. They've managed to track down most of it, but apparently there's still some missing," Desiree said grimly. "I guess we know where it is."

Alex bit his lip. "Are you sure he has it?"

"Yes."

The answer was so simple. Just one word. Yet the way she said it, Alex couldn't help but agree with her. Nodding, he decided to change the topic onto one he'd been dying to find out.

"So, how did Matthew become your new partner?" Alex asked, trying not to show how interested he was. Apparently it worked, for he didn't receive the suspicious look that he'd been expecting.

"He was slowly working his way up the "ladder", so to speak," Dessi began, leaning back into the seat and trying to get comfortable, "When...when the director regrouped unit one, he shuffled around the other units too. Matthew was chosen to be in unit one, along with two other men who're making up our back-up group."

"And...do you get along with Matthew?" Alex asked, curious.

Dessi shrugged. "He's alright. I mean, he's got the right mindset and instincts, and he's very fit and everything but..." Dessi hesitated, "But...well...I think he has a crush on me."

Alex froze. Okay, maybe she wasn't _that_ ignorant.

"How...how do you feel about that?" He asked cautiously.

"Well...I mean, it certainly is flattering but," Dessi paused, biting her lip, "But, I, well...I already like someone else," She said, turning her head away slightly to hide the blush.

Before Alex could say anything else, Robert started to stir. Knowing that it would be highly suspicious if she was caught talking to someone, Dessi swiftly left. As she sat back down, Alex saw her shake Matthew slightly to wake the boy up. She was determinately avoiding eye contact with him.

"Urgh...did I miss anything?" Robert asked, shaking himself from unconsciousness.

"No," Alex said, turning back to face his friend. "Nothing."

The train sped through the countryside, the beautiful scenery whipping past in a blur. Around noon, the other students on the train started to stir, lulled back into consciousness by their growling stomachs. Not long after this, Professor Willard and the maths professor came into their carriage, each bearing basket of wrapped sandwiches and spring water.

"Finally! Lunch!" Robert exclaimed, happily accepting his sandwich and water. Alex rolled his eyes, before also accepting his lunch.

Across from him, he noticed Desiree warily examining her own lunch, as if looking for contaminants. As he watched, Matthew leaned in close to whisper something in the girl's ear. She snapped something back softly, before taking a sip of water. Alex saw the slight frown she gave to the bottle after swallowing, although she seemed to shake it off again. Probably paranoia.

It was another hour before the train finally pulled into a station. There was a massive rush as the twenty students on board fought past the rest of the passengers in other carriages, so that they could get onto solid ground first.

Several people bumped into Alex as he tried to fight the flow. By the time he stepped out into the sunshine, he was sure that he'd just received more bruises than he'd ever had in his life, altogether – and that was saying something.

"Children! Gather round, gather round!" The maths professor shouted, waving his arms madly to signal to those who hadn't heard his voice in the chaos of the train station.

"Alright," he said when he finished a head count, "We're going to split you into two groups of ten. One group will be taken by me, the other by Professor Willard over here. So, here I go."

From the corner of his eye, Alex noticed Desiree make a subtle shift so that she stood on Willard's side. Matthew trailed after her like an obedient puppy; as he passed Alex, he threw the boy a glare, warning him to back off. Alex merely rolled his eyes in return.

"Alright, you, you, you, and you, you're also with Professor Willard – they need more males," the maths professor said, pulling Alex and Robert, along with three other guys, to Willard's group while five girls were told to join his.

The two groups separated, each heading off to a different tour bus. Matthew made sure to shove into Alex before boarding the bus. Robert threw Alex a questioning glance, but luckily the boy didn't comment.

As the bus set off, a very familiar-looking woman stood up, waving for their silence before speaking into the microphone.

"Hey guys! My name is Rebecca, and I'll be your tour guide through the caves!"

Alex's eyes narrowed at the very familiar sounding accent. Rebecca smiled at them all nicely, before sitting down. But just a millisecond before she did, she caught Alex's eye and gave him a cheeky wink. At that moment, Alex was supremely happy that he had such complete control over his facial expression. As it was, he only barely stopped his jaw from dropping in shock.

It was Rose.

_How the hell had did that woman get herself appointed as their guide?_ Alex shook his head, once again amazed at the things one could do if they had the right contacts. The fact that Rose was this close also begged the question – was K-unit around as well?

That question was answered almost immediately when Rose got back off her seat to talk to the driver, who glanced into the rear-view mirror, caught Alex's eye, and smirked at his astounded expression.

Snake, K-unit's resident medic, was their current driver.

Alex slumped back in his seat, barely restraining a groan as an overwhelming mixture of emotions welled up inside him. It was undeniably good to see some familiar faces again. But all the same, he didn't know whether to feel relieved, annoyed, or frightened for his life. Of course, it wasn't as bad as if, say, _Eagle_ had been allocated driver. The next half an hour was spent with both Rose and Snake tossing him triumphant, gloating glances, and Alex doing everything he could to avoid their gaze.

Needless to say, the boy was the first one off the bus, with Robert hurrying to catch up.

Desiree came to stand as close to Alex as she could, without raising suspicion. She glanced at Alex with an almost shy smile, before turning away so fast that he wasn't sure if it had happened at all. However, he definitely did catch the annoyed glare Matthew threw at him a second later.

"Alright, everyone here?" Rose asked cheerfully, taking the lead. "Okay, let's go!"

She set off, with eight students and Professor Willard trailing after her. Alex hung back slightly, noticing that Desiree hadn't moved from her position. She kept glancing over her shoulder, a slight frown on her face.

Looking around to make sure no-one was within hearing range, Alex whispered, "Dessi? You okay?"

Desiree started slightly, spinning to face Alex. She glanced one last time over her shoulder before nodding and walking past him, jogging slightly to catch up with the group.

Alex looked over to where she kept glancing, but as far as he could see, there was nothing interesting. With a frown, he set off after her.


	13. Poisoned

_A HUGE thank you to ALL MY REVIEWERS! THANK YOU!_

_And a message to __**Also a Harry Potter Fan**__ – first of all, thank you for all your reviews to __My Glamorous Life__! I felt so...I don't know...inspired? Not sure if that's the right word for this context. But anyway, thank you! Also, I'd be happy to write the story you requested, but I'm not entirely sure of what you were trying to describe to me. So, if you still want me to write it, any chance you could give a longer/fuller description, so that I'm clear on the plot details that you wanted? Awesome, thanks._

_**Disclaimer – **__I don't own Alex Rider, or NCIS_

_Anyways, enjoy and don't forget to review!_

**Chapter 13**

Caves were amazing. Especially when you took into account what it must've been like for the first explorers of caves, who entered with nothing but a flashlight, and had to scramble over the rocky ground. Nowadays, even with the manmade walkways installed and the artificial lights which penetrated even the gloomiest dark spaces, caves were still pretty darn amazing.

Unless you were with a group of nerds who seemed to want nothing more than to learn about the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite.

Alex barely hid his yawn as Rose answered yet another question. He had to admit though, he was highly impressed with the woman's knowledge of caves. Was she naturally interested in them, or had she actually studied for the sole purpose of this mission? If it was the latter, then Alex was even more impressed with her dedication.

As they were led deeper into the cave, Alex noticed that Robert began to behave in a slightly odd manner. He seemed to be constantly looking over his shoulder at something. What was even more unusual, he wasn't paying any attention to Rose at all.

"Psst. Robert," Alex hissed, drawing closer to his friend. Robert jumped, like he'd been jabbed with electricity. "Are you alright?"

Robert blinked at him for a moment before nodding slowly. And in that second, Alex noticed the vacant look in the boy's eyes, a look that he'd definitely never had before. Frowning, Alex turned his attention away from his friend, though he made sure to keep an eye on the boy. The way Robert kept checking over his shoulder...

It was exactly what Alex had caught Desiree doing just moments before they entered the cave.

Alex's head whipped around, trying to locate the girl. Spotting her at the back of the crowd, he took hold of Robert's sleeve and slowly edged the two of them towards Dessi. He knew that something was wrong when the boy didn't even complain about moving away from the knowledge-holder.

Matthew watched Alex edge closer to them with narrowed eyes, though he didn't say anything, for which Alex was grateful. Now was not exactly the best time to be making a scene.

Robert glanced over his shoulder yet again.

The group moved even deeper into the cave. Every few metres, the boardwalk split up into even further walkways, so that five minutes later Alex was completely and utterly lost. He could only hope that Rose actually remembered the way they came.

As Alex glanced at Rose, he noticed from the corner of his eye another classmate who was acting slightly odd. The girl, whom Alex was sure was named Julie, was staring unblinkingly at the roof of the cave, her expression one of such sheer happiness that it was most definitely out of place, unless she was exceptionally happy about being in a cave...

_What the hell was going on_? Alex thought, confused.

Was it some sort of virus? Disease? What in God's name was causing such strange behaviour? What in God's name _could_ cause such strange behaviour?

"Oi, you there!" Rose shouted, interrupting Alex's thoughts.

The spy turned to see Rose making her way towards a boy who was backing away frantically from an empty space. His expression was one of sheer terror.

"Hey, stop! Oi...what's his name," Rose asked helplessly to those standing nearest to the boy.

One of his friends spoke up. "He's Piers, ma'am...what's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Rose frowned. "Has he ever done this before?"

All of Piers' friends shook their heads. Rose's frown deepened, and she reached out for the boy, to stop him backing away even further. Before she had even touched Piers though, the boy started to scream.

His hands went up to shield his face from some invisible blow, and he crumpled to the floor where he proceeded to curl himself into a tight ball. Alex recognised that position immediately; it was the most instinctive position which the body assumes to protect itself.

"Hey, it's okay, shhhh," Rose whispered, kneeling next to the whimpering boy. Piers however, either didn't or couldn't hear her soothing voice.

"Rider," Someone suddenly hissed in Alex's ear, causing the boy to jump, startled. He turned to find himself face to face with Matthew, who regarded him with some amusement behind his serious eyes.

"What?" Alex whispered, knowing he couldn't be heard over the panic as the others tried to get some response out of the whimpering Piers.

"Look at Willard."

Alex spun to see the chemical expert backing slowly from the main group, his eyes wide and panicky.

"_...he isn't used to working under pressure. I'm worried that he'll snap and fire off God-knows-what in the camp, and kill everyone..."_

That was what Desiree had told him about Brad Willard, when she had explained to him the reason why they were there. And with a sinking feeling, Alex remembered the rest of their conversation.

"_...Quinuclidinyl Benzilate, or BZ gas...is a military incapacitating agent...it's odourless so you can't detect it until too late... can be released into the air or dissolved into a solvent for ingestion...affects your nervous system,...screw up your vision, your heart rate, and your mind. You start to see things that aren't there, start to believe things that aren't true..._"

And suddenly, Alex knew what was wrong. His mind flashed back to the train trip, where Willard and the maths professor had handed out their lunches. He remembered the frown Desiree had given to her bottle of water, though she had later dismissed it. And her reaction, Robert's reaction, Julie's unblinking staring at the roof of the ceiling, Piers's collapse.

They'd been poisoned.

Alex caught Matthew's eye. A look of understanding seemed to flash between the two boys, before they moved simultaneously. One moment Willard was backing away slowly, the next he was sprawled on the ground, unconscious, while his hands were tied securely behind his back with a length of rope that Matthew pulled out of his pockets.

"What on earth –" Rose began, as those who weren't showing signs of poisoning began to realise what had happened.

"Oh my God! You killed the teacher!" A girl screamed. And pandemonium erupted.

"Oi! Shush!" Rose shouted, trying to get their attention. Her voice, however, could hardly be heard over the frightened screams. "SHUT IT!"

_Well_, Alex mused, _that certainly caught their attention_.

"Right," Rose breathed once there was silence again, "Now, I want you all to walk down this walkway and turn right. You find a large space. Stand around, sit on the floor, I don't care. But _wait for me there_. Got it?"

The students nodded before setting off, though more than one paused to throw a cautious look back at Alex and Matt. Four students (excluding Alex and Matthew) still remained in several states of hallucination.

"Okay," Rose started. "What was that?"

"He's poisoned the students," Alex said, gesturing to Dessi, to Robert and to Julie and Piers. "They've ingested water contaminated with dissolved BZ gas."

Rose blanched so violently that had it not been a life and death situation for four teens, Alex would've been rolling on the floor in fits of laughter.

"What are you going to do?" Matthew asked, watching Desiree helplessly.

Rose chewed her lip for a second before pulling a two-way communicator from her belt. "Snake, Snake, do you copy?"

There was quite a lot of static interference, before Snake's voice came through. "_Yep, copy. What's up?_"

"Get an ambulance down here. Make sure they're supplied with the antidote to BZ gas. We have at least four people who've been poisoned."

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side. "_Okay, emergency crews are on their way. ETA half an hour._"

"Damn it Snake, we don't have that long," Rose snapped, glancing worriedly at Piers, "Isn't there anything you can do?"

There was a loud buzz of static before Snake responded. _"I only have enough antidote to treat one person, Rose. Not four."_

"Well right now, I have a suspected overdose, so you come down here right now and treat him," Rose demanded, before shutting off the communication. She turned to face Matthew with a raised eyebrow. "Right, from the way you knocked out that teacher, I'm assuming you're _not_ here on camp."

"No ma'am. I'm with her," Matthew said, pointing at Dessi who's gaze was currently focussed on a blank stretch of wall.

"Is...is that Desiree?" Rose asked in shock.

Alex nodded grimly, and Rose let out a surprised breath.

"Well, this is unexpected," she said. "Ben called me about it, but...wow, she really got into character didn't she?"

Matthew cleared his throat. "I don't mean to be rude, ma'am, but shouldn't we be doing something more...useful?"

"Good point...um..."

"Matthew. Matthew Lake."

"Good point, Agent Lake," Rose nodded, "Right, you two stay with these four. Make sure they don't do anything stupid, like rip out their eyeballs. Yes Alex, I know about the NCIS marine case last year. They're condition should remain reasonably stable for the next few hours – if they'd been too badly overdosed, we'd have seen the effects by now. I'm going to go explain to the rest of the student what's happening. And yes Alex, that means I'll be telling some lie," Rose sighed, reading Alex's expression correctly each time.

Alex rolled his eyes, before sticking out his tongue very immaturely at Rose's back.

.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo of the NCIS, though more commonly known as just Tony, sat back at his desk with a relaxed sigh. It was about ten in the morning, and so far there'd been no marines murdered, no bomb threats, no hostages, no...well, you get the picture. In fact, truth be told, it was rather boring having nothing to do.

"Hey Elf Lord," Tony called, figuring if he were to do something, it might as well be to annoy Timothy McGee. "What 'ya doin'?"

"Fixing this computer," Timothy replied with a slightly strained voice. Only his feet were currently visible – the rest of him was squished under his table as he twisted around wire after wire. "It's a very delicate process, whereby – "

"You know what, Probie? I don't even want to know," Tony said, leaning back in his chair and sticking his feet up onto his table. "For I would like to spend one day, just _one,_ without having to listen to your complicated and probably made up words."

"Too bad for you we've got another case."

Tony jumped as a rather amused voice spoke right beside his ear. He looked up into the amused eyes of Ziva David, who had managed to sneak up on him, yet again.

"Stop doing that," Tony said weakly, tucking his hands under his head, "And what do you mean, another case?"

"Well, it's not really another case, per se," Ziva admitted, going back to her own chair, "It's more the reopening of a previous case."

"Which case?" Timothy asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as he ignored his wires and stuck his head out from under his desk.

"The one with the dead marine, a pulled out eyeball, and a tonne of missing BZ Gas."

"Gibbs!" Tony all but shouted, quickly withdrawing his feet off his desk.

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs entered the bullpen assigned to his team, his customary cup of coffee in his hand. He paused by Ziva's desk to give the Mossad liaison officer a look of annoyance and disappointment, before moving to grab his coat from his chair.

"Come on," Gibbs said, leading the way back out of the bullpen and towards the lift, three frantic agents scrambling after him.

"I call shotgun!" Tony announced as the lift doors closed.

"We're not driving," Gibbs sighed.

"We're not?" Tony asked, confused, "But...where're we going then?"

"To the caves," Gibbs replied, just as the lift reached the bottom floor, "Some idiot just poisoned school children with our missing gas."

.

_Mwahahahahaha! I have officially brought in the NCIS! I've always wanted to do this thing where I had all the top intelligence agencies trying to work together! I'm so excited!_

_Anyways, are you excited about this? Do you want to groan and strangle me for doing something I shouldn't have? Do you think that this was a mistake? Please tell me in a __**REVIEW!**_

_Thanks for reading and remember, the more you __**review**__ the faster I write and update!_

_Love Chariots99_


	14. NCIS

_I really should be studying...but oh well._

**Chapter 14 **

Alex stood outside the caves in the fresh air, watching on nervously as Desiree, Robert and Julie were treated by the medical professionals.

Piers, who had been the most affected (due to a suspected overdose in his water) had already been successfully treated by Snake, and had been sent off with the rest of the children back to Bayswater camp. The incident had been explained away by blaming the strange behaviour on the un-fresh cave air. Alex and Matthew's actions had also been blamed on this. And the children had been reassured (multiple times) that Professor Willard was not dead, merely knocked out.

Speaking of Willard, the man was still unconscious. He was currently lying on the ground, securely handcuffed, with Snake keeping a close eye on him should he wake.

Robert had a gas mask strapped onto his face, and appeared to be slowly regaining his mental state. Julie's eyes were becoming much more focussed on reality.

"Stop her!" One of the medics suddenly shouted in panic.

Alex spun to see Desiree taking off, complete fear pasted across her face. The gas mask that had been strapped on her face had been ripped off and tossed to the ground.

She kept looking over her shoulder, seeing something that was merely a figment of her imagination, but that had spooked her badly enough to cause her to run.

Knowing that he was closest to the fleeing girl, Alex took off after her. A quick glance behind him told Alex that Matthew also had the same idea, but he was nowhere near Dessi as Alex was. A small victory for Alex, and both boys knew it.

Desiree led them on a wild chase through the fields. Before long, they were completely out of sight of the buzzing ambulances, medics, MI6 agent and lone SAS man.

Desiree began to slow down, giving Alex the chance to catch up to her. The girl was looking around in confusion, as if wondering why she was actually running. Alex took the chance to reach out and snag one of the girl's arms, before pulling her to a stop.

Alex lifted Desiree's chin up, forcing the girl to meet his eyes. Even behind the contact lenses, he could see them clearing of their previous drug-induced state, though there was still a fair bit of haziness about them.

"Dessi?" Alex murmured softly.

It was then that a heavy weight knocked right into him, sending him staggering. Desiree had somehow managed to avoid the blow, and was currently blinking in confusion, her eyes still focused somewhere between imagination and reality. Alex looked up into the snarling face of Agent Matthew Lake.

"What the hell is your problem, Lake?" Alex demanded.

"You are my problem," Matthew sneered, shoving Alex again, "You think you can just pick up where you left off? Well, here's a news flash: _she's not interested_! You don't know how she's changed, you don't know what she's been through! Hell, through _four freaking years_, not _once_ did you bother to write to her! To contact her!"

Anger flared like fire, suddenly ignited.

"And what makes you think you're any better than me?" Alex snarled, stepping forwards to glare into the other boy's face, "Huh? What makes you think she deserves you?"

"Because I actually _care_ about her!"

Alex snorted. "If you cared so much, you would let her make her own mind up, instead of trying to force yourself on her!"

Matthew spluttered wordlessly. "What?...Force?...I never..."

"Take it from me, _Lake_," Alex sneered, "She's not interested in you. She never was. She never will be. _Get over it!_"

Before Matthew could retaliate, whether verbally or physically, they were interrupted with a small, slightly confused, whisper.

"Alex?"

Alex spun, shocked, to come face to face with Desiree, who'd somehow managed to sneak right behind him. It took all his control not to break out into a victorious grin. _She had called him 'Alex'. Not 'Rider', 'Alex'._

"Dessi? You okay?"

Desiree blinked. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You were poisoned. Willard spiked come of the water he was handing out with BZ Gas."

"I thought it tasted a bit off," Dessi muttered. "Hang on. Some? Why not all?"

Alex shrugged. "He hasn't been questioned yet, so we don't know. But if it were me, I would've done it so that I could instil much more fear. I mean, if you don't know who'll be hit next, you'd be much more afraid."

"That's a good one! But the other reason could be that the man simply didn't have enough."

The three teens spun around to face the new speaker. Desiree seemed to instinctively step back into a defensive pose, though it was so subtle that Alex thought he was the only one who picked it up.

A man wearing sunglasses and a black cap with the letters '_NCIS_' emblazoned on its front stood before them, a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other.

"I'm sorry," Matthew began, "But who are you?"

"Oh," the man laughed, giving Matt a mock bow. "Forgive me, your highness, I was not aware that I had to report every detail of my life to you."

"Don't insult my partner," Desiree growled.

"What are you going to do about it?" The man laughed again, his American accent extremely noticible. He seemed to be taking the thing as a joke, completely missing the dangerous look on Desiree's face. Before he could go any further and cause himself bodily harm, they were once again interrupted.

"Tony! Have you found the – oh,"

"McGleek!" The man named Tony turned to face the intruder, "Don't interrupt the interrogation!"

'McGleek' shot Tony a rather annoyed look before giving the highly confused teens a smile. "Hi there. You must be the missing agents we were looking for," he said, speaking very slowly and clearly as if they were five-year old children. It was obvious that he didn't believe for a second the three teens were actual agents. "I'm Special Agent McGee, NCIS, and this is Special Agent DiNozzo."

"_Super_ Special Agent DiNozzo," Tony corrected, holding out his badge.

Desiree snorted. It seems she'd taken an almost immediate dislike to the man.

"Riiiight," Agent McGee trailed off, sensing the tension in the air, "Well...er...why don't we head back to where the others are? We can continue this..._interrogation_ there."

The walk back was probably the most awkward thing Alex had ever experienced in his life. He and Matthew were ignoring each other, walking either side of Desiree. This was for two reasons; the first being that they could both be in contact with her. The second was to stop her physically lashing out at 'Super' Special Agent DiNozzo, who kept sending the girl infuriating smirks. McGee brought up the rear, looking highly confused at the whole situation.

"Boss! Boss, we found them!" McGee called out the moment the others came into view.

A greying man looked up with eyes that had seen too much. Alex noted the way they narrowed slightly when they passed over Desiree and Matthew.

"Alex!" Rose exclaimed, hurrying over to the boy. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Alex smiled. He was about to ask after her when a commotion broke out right next to him.

"Let go of me! I'm fine!" Desiree shouted, struggling against the medics who had pretty much pounced on her the moment they could.

"This is just a standard testing procedure!" One of the medics panted.

"Dessi," Matthew murmured, reaching out for the girl's arm, "Let them do their job."

Desiree glared at her partner for five full seconds before relenting with a sigh. One of the medics tossed Matthew a grateful smile before they hurried the girl off to the equipment piled up next to the ambulances.

"Well..." Rose trailed off, slightly confused.

"Don't ask," Alex muttered, shooting Matthew a glare. As he looked away, he caught the eye of a woman who also wore an NCIS cap, the Star of David around her neck. She was talking to an uncomfortable looking McGee. "Rose, who's that?"

Rose looked in the direction of Alex's discreet nod. "Oh, that's NCIS's Mossad liaison officer Ziva David. And make sure you pronounce it '_Daveed'_, or she gets _really_ annoyed at you."

"Mossad liaison? She's the one who gave Dessi the info about the BZ gas."

"Really?" Rose said, interested, "I guess that's why Gibbs doesn't look too happy with her."

"Er...Gibbs?"

"Oh, right," Rose laughed, before pointing out the greying man whom McGee had referred to as 'Boss'. "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He's the man in charge of their team. Unit. Whatever the Americans call it."

"Hey...what happened to Robert and that other kid...Julie," Alex asked, looking around for his friend.

"They were sent back to camp," Rose shrugged, "Same 'copter that dropped off the NCIS team picked them up too. Hang on Alex, I think Snake wants me," she said, looking across at the madly waving SAS man. "I'll be right back."

Alex watched her run off before snorting under his breath.

"Join the Intelligence; we're eco-friendly," Alex muttered sarcastically before leaving with the intention of joining Desiree. Unfortunately, he was interrupted halfway there.

"Hey, kid!"

Alex spun to see the Mossad liaison officer jog up to him. "Yes?" He asked warily.

"Are you Matthew or Alex?" Ziva asked. She spoke with a slight accent, probably Israeli considering her nationality, but it wasn't very noticible.

"Alex."

"Well then, Alex, it is very nice to meet you," Ziva smiled, extending a hand. Alex's eyebrows rose in surprise – she was the first of the NCIS team to actually show some courtesy.

"Nice to meet you too," Alex said, accepting the handshake, "You're Ziva, right?"

"Yes. I just wanted to apologise in advance for anything my team may do; Tony and McGee did not actually believe that people your age could be high ranked Intelligence Officers, and Gibbs well..." Ziva trailed off, shooting a subtle look around to check for any eavesdroppers, before lowering her voice, "I have not been debriefed on the full details, but apparently there was some sort of feud going on between Gibbs and the agency your friends work for."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Figures," he muttered.

"I know. Though I must admit, I cannot actually believe that girl over there is _the_ Agent Swan," Ziva went on, "Mossad has been looking for that girl for _years_. She's like a celebrity; you know she exists, but you do not know where to find her."

Alex snuffed a laugh. "MI6 were...well, still are...like that, trying to scrounge for any scrap of information on her. That was how we first met, actually. Four years ago."

As he spoke, a distant memory of a flimsy USB, smashed into a thousand pieces, floated through Alex's mind. If he needed anymore evidence that he'd done was right thing, it was here in front of his eyes.

"Hang on, if Olsen is working with Dessi, shouldn't you at least know _something_ about her?"

Ziva shrugged. "Apparently not enough, if my father has not removed the Code Red."

"Alex?"

"Speak of the devil," Alex said with a smile for Desiree, who'd just joined them. "Hey, you took your contacts out!"

"Yeah," Desiree said carelessly, crystal blue eyes glittering under the sun, "Figured I didn't need them anymore. We've been withdrawn from camp now that Willard's been caught."

Crystal blue eyes flickered across to the slightly star-struck Ziva, down to her Star of David, and back up again, before a small smile appeared on Dessi's face. "You must be Ziva."

"How –?" Ziva asked, surprised.

Dessi shrugged. "You look like your father."

"I am not sure if that is a compliment," Ziva said.

"Neither am I," Dessi smiled, holding out her hand. Ziva took it with a grin.

_And now they're introduced, it's about to get interesting..._

_So, how did you like that chapter? Was it good? Bad? Could've been better? Tell me in a __**REVIEW!**_

_Constructive criticism, ideas, things you want to see happen, are all excepted. And now, I shall get back to studying...don't tell anyone about this piece of procrastination...it'll be our little secret..._

_Love Chariots99_

_**VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION!**__ – I know that currently the NCIS director is Vance. However, since in my timeline this occurs a year after the BZ gas incident, Jenny Shepherd is technically still alive. SO...Do you guys want Jenny or Vance to be the director?_


	15. Rule Number Nine

**Chapter 15**

"Well...this is awkward," Timothy McGee said, shifting around in his chair.

They were back in the hotel room which Alex's backup team (ie – Rose and K-Unit) had been living in. The room they were currently in had some sort of invisible barrier dividing them all up; in one corner sat Ziva, Tony and Tim. Alex, Matthew and Rose were cross-legged on the floor. All four SAS men were sprawled on the couch.

Unfortunately for them, Ben Daniels and James Olsen couldn't be withdrawn from the camp, since nothing dangerous had happened to them. So they would have to join in when the camp ended, sometime in the next few days.

Apart from the awkward shifting around in the room, there was total silence. Well, it would be total silence if you eliminated the shouts that were drifting through from the adjoining room.

"Can anyone actually hear what they're saying?" Tony asked, cocking his head towards the wordless shouts from behind the closed door.

"Not really."

"Nope."

"No."

The entire room shook their head, answering in the negative.

After the order had been given from the directors of the AIS, MI6 Mossad and NCIS which basically forced them to work together, they'd all agreed to bunk out at the hotel room booked by MI6. The most amusing thing that had happened was informing Wolf, Eagle and Shark that they'd have company. And that was saying something.

It took about twenty minutes before tempers really started to fray. Surprisingly, it had been the unit leaders who had lost it – the others were quite content with awkward silences and cold glares.

The NCIS team had watched in shock as their usually calm, cool and collected leader snapped at the twenty-year old girl. Matthew, Alex and Rose weren't quite as shocked when Desiree snapped back, though they definitely did not expect the girl to physically lash out at Gibbs.

But then again, as Eagle had said into the stunned silence following the attack, they should've seen it coming.

When Gibbs had recovered from being punched by a girl, he'd dragged her into the adjoining room, ignoring Desiree's struggles. Alex was sure that people in the lobby could've heard the door slam behind Gibbs. They'd been shouting almost nonstop since then.

"Why...what do those two have against each other?" Shark asked, perplexed.

"Dunno," Rose shrugged.

"Whatever it is, though, it probably explains rule thirty-two," McGee said.

"What's rule thirty-two?" Alex asked, curious.

"Yes, McPhotographic-Memory," Tony sniggered, "What _is_ rule thirty-two?"

"Never trust anyone who works for the AIS."

The entire room jumped to their feet as Gibbs slammed the door open again, before stalking out. His voice was slightly hoarse after all the shouting, and there was a dangerous expression on his face. Behind him, Desiree snorted.

"Oh, so now you bring us into your stupid set of rules too?" She sneered.

Matthew caught Alex's eye; a look of understanding passed between the two boys before they both took subtle steps until they stood either side of the enraged girl, so that they could hold her back if needed.

Gibbs stared coldly at the girl. The air almost crackled with the tension that filled the room. Finally, he ended the stare-down by addressing his team.

"David, DiNozzo, get ready; we're going to interrogate Willard. McGee, you're on babysitting duty," he said. As Ziva and Tony scrambled about for their things, and Tim tossed his boss a sullen look, Gibbs turned back to Desiree.

"Hand over your weapons," he all but ordered.

"What! Why the _hell_ would I do that?" Desiree sneered back.

"Desiree," Matthew whispered, trying to placate the girl. She merely brushed him off.

"I want to make sure you don't _kill_ anyone while we're gone," Gibbs said.

"Why you –" Desiree moved threateningly towards the man. Alex reached out in time to snag her sleeve, gently dragging her back slightly.

"Hand them over, Swan."

"Dessi," he murmured, "Maybe you should just do what he says."

Disbelieving blue eyes caught his own, before the girl gave in. With an annoyed grumble, she pulled up the back of her shirt to reveal a small hand pistol strapped to her lower back. Removing the gun, along with the material holding it in place, she tossed the entire bundle to Gibbs, before spinning around sharply with the intention of storming back into the room.

She was stopped by Gibbs' voice.

"_All_ your weapons," he said.

Dessi growled, before bending down and somehow producing a gun from within her shoe. That she handed to Matthew, before she rolled up her pants until they were high enough to reveal the gun strapped to the inside of her thigh. That gun was also removed, with Alex being the holder.

As she made to move away, Gibbs stopped her again.

"Even the knife, Swan," he said coolly.

Desiree shot him a sharp look over her shoulder, before pulling her shirt up to reveal the fully sheathed knife that was tucked neatly under the side of her bra. She pulled it out, holding it for a second as if saying goodbye, before also tossing the knife to Gibbs. That done, she stalked into the adjoining room before slamming the door shut behind her, leaving a stunned silence behind her.

Gibbs collected the guns which Alex and Matthew held, before putting all four weapons into a separate bag. Tony was gapping at the closed door, while Tim was gaping at the bag. Both boys were definitely in shock – the only other person they'd ever seen carrying around that many weapons was Ziva David, and at least _she_ was Mossad.

Meanwhile Ziva, along with the rest of the room, were looking highly impressed.

Matthew frowned as Gibbs began to leave the room. "How did you know about the knife?" He asked.

"Rule number nine," Gibbs said, before stepping out.

"What's rule nine?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ziva tossed her a grim look as she followed Gibbs out. "Never go anywhere without a knife."

.

_Yes, I know this was a rather short chapter. But I wanted to show the "warring factions" I suppose, before we really get into it._

_Anyway, what did you think of that? Was it good? Bad? Really, really bad? Tell me in a __**REVIEW!**_

_Remember, constructive criticisms and ideas are all accepted._

_Thanks for reading!_

_Love Chariots99_

_**VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION!**__ – I know that currently the NCIS director is Vance. However, since in my timeline this occurs a year after the BZ gas incident, Jenny Shepherd is technically still alive. SO...Do you guys want Jenny or Vance to be the director?_


	16. Indicator

_Well, you know what they say: two short chapters make a...decently sized chapter?_

**Chapter 16**

"Found anything out yet?" Desiree asked, sitting down on the floor next to Alex and his enormous pile of paperwork.

"Sadly, no." Alex sighed, rubbing his face with tired hands.

It was eleven at night. Gibbs, Ziva and Tony were still gone, interrogating Willard over the BZ Gas from their own case. Everyone else in the hotel room were fast asleep – everyone but Alex and Dessi.

"There's just too much stuff to go through," Alex said, "And half the things contradict with the other. Seriously Dessi, you should tell whoever is in charge of sorting through this stuff to do it better."

Desiree laughed, probably the first true laugh Alex had heard in a long while. "That'll go down well. The guy who's currently in charge of collecting intelligence hates me. And is scared of me," she added as an afterthought.

"Who is in charge?" Alex asked curiously.

"Agent Harvey."

"Harvey...Harvey," Alex trailed off, "It sounds kinda familiar."

Desiree raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed that he'd still be able to remember someone he'd only briefly met after four years. "That was the guy who cornered you when you somehow snuck into the Intelligence Surveillance Building."

"Oh yeah. Huh, funny that," Alex laughed. "Maybe I'll pay him a visit."

"Yeah, and get another black eye," Dessi smirked.

"Oh, shush," Alex grinned, giving the girl a slight shove.

"Hey!" Dessi laughed, shoving Alex back.

That Alex hadn't expected, and so he couldn't steady himself in time. He fell back onto the floor, scattering the nearby stack of files every which way. "Ahh, crud." He groaned as he sat back up.

"Ooops," Dessi smiled.

"This is all your fault, Swan," Alex said, unable to contain a laugh despite the increase in his workload, "Now I have to put them back into order!"

"Well, maybe you don't," Dessi said. "I mean, if it made no sense before, maybe it'll make more sense when it's out of order."

"Hm...interesting logic. Well, we could try that," Alex said, picking up a file at random.

"I find if you just skim through and look for key words, you'll get through it a lot quicker," Dessi said softly, leaning over Alex's shoulder, "So we could look for 'counter-intelligence'," she whispered, using her finger to gently trace out the three times 'counter-intelligence' was mentioned, "Then go from there."

Alex turned his head slightly, suddenly very aware of how close Desiree actually was. Crystal blue eyes met his gaze, before flickering down to his lips and back up again. Slowly, Alex leaned in, tilting his head slightly to the side. Dessi seemed to imitate him, lifting her chin up slightly.

They drew closer and closer.

Crystal blue eyes fluttered shut, their long lashes resting against Dessi's cheekbones. Alex could feel the gentle puffs of warm air against his lips as the girl's breathing quickened in anticipation. He smiled softly, inclining his head to close the distance between their lips.

And then, when he was just millimetres away, the door to their hotel room burst open with a frightfully loud '_bang_'.

Alex and Desiree jumped apart in shock, hastily shifting apart, as Ziva and Tony came in, arguing loudly. Gibbs was nowhere to be found.

"...All I'm saying is that if you turn the_ indicator_ lights on when you intend to _turn_, other people wouldn't be beeping us so many times," Tony said, dumping a pile of things on the table.

"They don't need to know my business," Ziva said, folding her coat carefully.

"Yeah, but see, the thing is, this really isn't just your business," Tony said, rolling his eyes. As he looked around the room, he spotted Alex and Desire staring at them with incredulously looks. "Hey, what're you two still doing up?" He asked, though the question was directed more towards Alex.

"Paperwork," Alex said, gesturing to the stack of files that lay scattered around the two teens.

"Riiight..." Tony trailed off with a suggestive wink.

"Tony," Ziva said with a disgusted look on her face, "Get your mind out of the sewer."

"'Gutter', Ziva, its 'gutter'," Tony rolled his eyes.

"'Gutter', 'sewer', I see no difference," Ziva replied, before heading off to the bathroom.

Alex raised a questioning eyebrow at Tony who just shook his head with a sigh.

"Don't ask," he muttered, before disappearing into the adjoining room, careful not to wake the sleeping agents and SAS men.

Finding themselves alone again, Alex turned to Desiree only to see the girl turn away with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Dessi?"

"Uh...I should go," the girl muttered in an embarrassed fashion.

"Why?"

Crystal blue eyes flashed in his direction for a moment before Desiree glanced away without answering. She got to her feet surprisingly gracefully, before leaving with a muttered "Goodnight".

Alex watched her leave the room, highly confused.

_Was it something he'd said?_

.

_It's my Birthday! Happy Birthday to me! I'm a hundred and three! I smell like a monkey...and I really have to pee!_

_Right, well, how was it? Good? Bad? Made you want to hurl? Tell me in a __**REVIEW!**_

_Thanks for reading,_

_Love Chariots99_

_By the way, how awesome was HP7? I honestly thought it was going to be really bad because of how HP5&6 turned out...but OMG, this was amazing! Hope I didn't just ruin it for some of you..._


	17. Michaelis Menten

**Chapter 17**

Gibbs stormed into the communication centre at one of NCIS's regional outposts. Brad Willard was being held here, and Gibbs had just finished interrogating the man. Ziva and Tony had been sent back to the hotel, but he'd stayed behind. He wanted some answers from the director.

"Here," one of the people working in the communication room said, handing Gibbs a set of speaker headphones. "And...we're on."

The face of Director Jenny Shepherd appeared on the large screen. She gave Gibbs a welcoming smile, but before she could even get a word in, Gibbs interrupted her.

"Michaelis Menden," he said, giving her the name which Willard had told him, while sobbing in fear with Ziva's unloaded gun (not that he'd known) pressed against his temple.

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "_Yes?_"

"He's the man in charge of the counter-intelligence ring in America. He's been on NCIS's most wanted list for _two years_ after he tortured three marines to death for information on the naval base. And I know for a fact that the man was in Australia just a few months ago. Never mind how he got out of the country, _how did he get back in?_"

Jenny sighed, running a hand through her short hair. There was a short silence, almost as if she were debating with herself over whether or not to answer.

"_The FBI want to use him as bait_," she finally said, "_They ordered that he be granted safe passage back into America._"

"Did they have the _right _to do that?" Gibbs asked, his voice dangerously low.

"_Menden was their problem first_," Jenny replied rather sharply, silently warning the man to calm down, "_As such, they have jurisdiction over anything and everything concerning him_."

"If they have jurisdiction, why aren't they helping us with this case?" Gibbs sneered, rather unusually for him.

"_It's the FBI. What did you expect?_" Jenny asked. "_And while we're on that note, why are _you_ still working the case? Surely now that Willard's confessed, your original case is closed?_"

Gibbs shook his head. "Some of the BZ Gas is still unaccounted for. Willard was definitely not given all of it – he thinks that it's in Menden's possession."

"_Right._" Jenny nodded. "_And have you forgiven Ziva yet?_"

The silence was pretty much the director's answer.

"_Jethro. It wasn't Ziva's fault for disclosing such information to one of her closer Israeli friends. If you wanted someone to blame, pick on Ziva's father. He knew that Ziva and Olsen are friends. Probably why he sent Olsen out on this mission in the first place._"

"So that if something went wrong, he'd have backup?" Gibbs asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Jenny shrugged. "_It's what I would do."_

"Seems no agency in the world has a problem with playing on other's emotions for their benefit," Gibbs muttered darkly.

"_On that note, how are you getting along with the AIS agents? Especially the girl; I think your personalities are too close not to clash," _Jenny asked.

Gibbs gave the director a look that clearly said 'Really? You had to ask?'

"_I thought that might be the case_," Jenny sighed. "_Jethro, I understand the reasons behind your mistrust of the AIS, but you need to remember that that girl is not her agency. Whatever wrongs the AIS have committed, it isn't because of her_."

There was a brief pause before Gibbs shook his head. "When did you become so deep?"

"_I've always been deep, Jethro. You've just never listened._"

.

"Found anything, Alex?" Rose asked, plopping herself down onto the couch which Alex was leaning against.

"Yes...no...well, I don't know," Alex admitted. Around him was the mess of files he hadn't bothered to clean up.

It was a rather sunny morning. Gibbs had yet to return, and as a result the NCIS team were fidgeting nervously from their various positions around the room. Desiree and Matthew were shut in the adjourning room, and from the sounds of it they were reporting back to AIS headquarters. Ben Daniels and James Olsen were due to arrive that afternoon. The two apparently had "borrowed-without-intention-to-return" (ie – stole, but they wouldn't admit it) some of Brad Willard's things.

"There's too much conflicting intelligence," Alex went on, comparing two sheafs of paper in confusion.

"That's the problem with intelligence."

Both Alex and Rose jumped in their seats; Ziva David had managed to sneak up on them without their knowledge.

The Mossad agent held back an amused smile at their reactions. "What do you have, so far?"

Alex sighed. "A Ghost. They never mention him – at least, I'm assuming it's a 'him' – by name. He seems to be able to just flit through countries with ease, and where ever he goes, a new counter-intelligence ring starts up."

"I am assuming this is where the conflicting information comes in?" Ziva guessed.

"Yeah," Alex said with a tired smile, "See, the AIS have collected like approximate dates of when the Ghost is in which country, based on which intelligence rings have been discovered. But the problem is that, based on their calculations, he was in at least three different countries at once."

"Who says that he wasn't?" Ziva asked, taking a seat.

Alex and Rose exchanged glances. "Erm..."

Ziva laughed. "I don't mean literally. But a ghost is a ghost, and if this guy is as good as the AIS make him out to be, he'll have alibis, just in case he's caught."

"So how do I know what's real?"

"Find something that's so contradictory, it's impossible," Ziva shrugged, "And go from there."

Rose laughed. "So have fun finding the ghost," she grinned.

"But, there's like ten million names in here!" Alex groaned, "Any one of them could be him! Look, there's Garry O'Brian, Patrick Appopolies, Avant Vuta –"

"Michaelis Menten."

The entire room jumped in shock as Gibbs stormed into the room, a rather annoyed scowl adorning his face.

"For the record, that was the name I was going to say next," Alex whispered to Rose.

"Guess he read your mind," she laughed.

"Michaelis Menten," Gibbs repeated, "Mastermind behind twelve illegal spy rings, runs one of the most dangerous black markets, and is one of NCIS's most wanted persons."

"Not to mention, a ghost." Suddenly, Desiree was there, leaning against the doorframe, Matthew looking over her shoulder. "Virtually impossible to find, unless he's looking for you. And dangerous. Not many who cross him live to tell the tale; and only then, it's because he decided to spare their life."

Gibbs dismissed her with a wave of his hand, before turning back to those assembled before him. "What we need to do is locate the man. McGee –"

"– Going to try and trace the location of Menten through Willard's calls," Timothy McGee replied, moving towards his laptop as he spoke.

"David."

"Going to contact Mossad, see if they have anything," Ziva said, giving Gibbs a mock salute before pulling out her mobile.

"DiNozzo."

"On the phone with Abby to see if she can find stuff, on it, boss," Tony finished, leaping over the sofa to grab his mobile off the table.

Alex glanced around the room as Gibbs nodded at his team. Rose's mouth hung open in shock, while K-Unit were looking rather impressed by the NCIS's ability to read each other's minds. Matthew, standing behind Dessi, had an eyebrow raised, impressed. Alex himself was currently thanking all deities out there that Blunt didn't expect him to read his mind.

All eyes were on Gibbs as the man starting to speak again. "Allende, contact MI6 and see if they have anything. Rider, keep looking through those files. Lake, see if the AIS has anymore intelligence we can use. K-Unit –"

"I'm sorry," Desiree interrupted, "But what gave you the impression that you can order my team around?"

Gibbs looked slightly surprised that someone had cut him off. Behind him, the NCIS team were looking highly shocked. Timothy McGee even cringed.

"This is a joint mission," she continued, "Which means that you're not automatically leader."

"Menten has our BZ gas, which makes him our priority," Gibbs all but snarled.

"Maybe. Unfortunately, Menten's the one responsible for a whole lot more damage than just having some missing gas," Dessi sneered. "I've been working this case for two years. I know it inside out."

"And you've proved that very well so far, haven't you?" Gibbs said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

A dark look crossed Desiree's eyes, though she refrained from whatever retort she was going to spit back.

Gibbs smiled rather triumphantly. "And that is why I shall lead this...joint venture."

This time, it seem that Dessi couldn't help herself. "Based on what?" She scoffed. "Your experience, or your age?"

The entire room winced as Gibbs virtually bore holes into the much shorter girl, who was glaring back just as fiercely. It was almost like a challenge, a war. One side had nothing to lose; the other could not lose. The tension in the room was thick, palpable, tangible. It almost felt like no-one was breathing.

And then, for the first time in living memory, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs looked away.

.


	18. To Track a Ghost

**Chapter 18**

"I can't believe Gibbs backed down!"

Tony, Tim and Ziva had holed themselves in the spare room. Not that it really mattered, since K-Unit were out patrolling the area – though they were sure that was just an excuse to get out of doing work – and the AIS and MI6 teams were getting along quite happily in the adjourning room. Gibbs had disappeared to ... wherever Gibbs disappears to.

Currently, Tony was in a state of shock. Shock that his boss had actually backed down.

"Get over it Tony," Ziva sighed.

"I can't," he said, "This just _never_ happens! I don't think Gibbs has even backed down from the Director!"

"Tony, would you please be quiet?" Tim said, "I am trying to work."

"I just cannot believe this," Tony said, completely ignoring his team mate.

"Tony!" Ziva said loudly. "Will you please do your work?"

"Alright, alright! Jeez, no need to yell."

There was silence for, maybe ten minutes; silence which was filled with the steady clatter of McGee's laptop. Then, Tony decided to open his mouth again.

"What's up with that AIS chick?" He asked.

"Desiree?" Ziva frowned. "First of all, she's at least half your age, so _please_ do not call her a 'chick'. It makes it sound like you are going to hit on her. Second of all," she said over the top of Tony's splutters, "I do not understand the question."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Well, she's a bit...strange. Cold. Not very friendly, like that Rider kid."

"You have done nothing for her to be friendly towards you," Ziva pointed out, "In fact, was it not you who questioned NCIS Intelligence when you were told she was an Agent?"

"Well, you've got to admit that finding out one of the top spies in the world is twenty years old is a bit unbelievable."

"Finding out someone as annoying as you could be up there on the NCIS chain of command was unbelievable," Ziva snapped, "But you did not see me making a fuss of it."

Tony grumbled something under his breath, though thankfully Ziva didn't hear. Or at least, pretended she didn't hear.

"She is kinda strange though," Tim said, looking up from his laptop.

"Yes, thankyou McProbie," Tony acknowledged, smirking at Ziva, "See, someone else agrees with me."

Ziva rolled her eyes before turning to McGee. "How do you mean?"

"Well she...she has this look about her," McGee said, fidgeting uncomfortably, "Like she's been put through too much. Sorta like Gibbs."

"Are you comparing our fearless leader to a twenty year old wannabe?" Tony asked.

"No! Well, er...kind of. Um..." McGee trailed off, highly confused, "There is something similar about the two."

"She has been through a lot, okay?" Ziva ground out.

"And I suppose you would know," Tony retorted, leaning back in his chair.

"I do. Not all of it," Ziva snapped, "But enough to know that you have no right judging her the way that you are."

"Oh?" Tony smirked, "Care to enlighten us then?" Even McGee looked at Ziva with interest.

The Mossad liaison officer scowled. "It is not my story to tell."

"In other words, you don't know it," Tony said, unaware of just how close Ziva was to punching the man.

"Or she could be doing what most considerable people do, and keeping her nose out of other people's business."

The three jumped – McGee even let out a rather high pitched squeal, to the numb amusement of the other two. They spun to see the subject of their heated discussion leaning casually against the doorframe with a rather disinterested expression, an iPhone in her hand.

"Desiree!" Ziva exclaimed, "How-how much of that did you hear?"

Dessi shrugged. "Enough."

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to eavesdrop?" Tony snapped. He was almost immediately pinned with hard blue eyes. Instinctively, he cowered back slightly in his chair. There was a fury behind those cool depths that he had yet to encounter.

"Didn't yours ever tell you that it's rude to talk about others behind their back?" She asked. Her voice was quiet, dangerous.

"He didn't mean that," Ziva said, though without much heart. When those blue eyes flickered to her, she sighed. "Okay, he did. But he doesn't know anything –"

"Hey!" Tony said, hurt.

"– about you," Ziva finished, shooting Tony a glare.

Dessi raised an eyebrow, before tossing the iPhone to Ziva. "James wants to talk to you."

Ziva frowned, putting the iPhone to her ear before leaving the room. Realising that he was now alone with McGeek and the rather volatile girl, Tony gulped. "Look, I didn't mean to offend you or anything–"

"Shut it, DiNozzo," Dessi sighed, dropping down into the nearest chair. "Ziva's right, you don't know anything about me." Her words held no heat; her previous anger seemed to have just disappeared off the face of the earth.

"And I suppose you're going to lecture me now?"

"Do you want a lecture?"

"Er..." Tony grimaced, "Not really, no."

.

Matthew, Rose and Alex sat in the main room around a stack of files. Each had one open in front of them, riffling through the enormous stack of sheets. And they were getting absolutely no useful information.

"I hate this," Alex grumbled.

"Stop complaining!" Matthew snapped.

"It's boring!" Alex retorted. "Just because you have no life, and this is how you pass the time–"

"Calm it!" Rose all but yelled, glaring between the two boys. They had been like this all day, sniping at each other, muttering insults, and it was really getting on her nerves. Worst still, nothing she said would shut the two up for long. _Where the heck is Dessi when you need her?_

They worked in silence for a little while longer before Alex threw his file on the ground in annoyance. "There's absolutely no useful information in this! We'd have better luck if we went out and physically searched for the bloody ghost!"

"Alex!"

The boy sighed. "Sorry. But it's true. We need more information."

"Maybe I can help with that."

The three looked up to see a grinning Ben Daniels, laden down by bulging bags.

"Hey guys!" He said cheerfully. "How's it going?"

"Ben!" Rose exclaimed, jumping up to give the man a hug, "We didn't know you were coming here today! Why didn't you tell us?"

"And what is that?" Alex asked, pointing at the bags.

"Just some stuff we borrowed with no intention of returning," Ben grinned, dumping a sackful of God-knows-what in front of them.

"Erm...we?" Rose asked.

"Me'n James," Ben explained. "We filched it out of Willard's office. Figured it could be useful."

"_Anything_ beats looking through those," Alex sighed, gesturing to the huge stack of files scattered on the floor.

"Hang on, where is James?" Rose asked, frowning. Matthew too, looked rather interested.

Ben shrugged. "Mossad recalled him. Said that they've already got an agent in this joint venture. I suspect that's why Ziva's on the phone outside."

"Well, aren't they a friendly bunch," Rose muttered.

"They didn't become the most ruthless agency in the world by being friendly," Matthew pointed out, only to receive a "_shut-the-hell-up_" glare from Alex.

.

"You're not really cut out for this," Dessi sighed, "You're the little fish, floundering around in the big kids' playground."

"That's a rather strange image," McGee commented.

"It's true enough," Dessi said, "This is a world of spies. MI6. Mossad. AIS. We all know what we're dealing with; we do it every day. But then, there's you."

"Hey! That's insulting to us, you know!" Tony snapped, "We can hold our own as well as you _'spies'_, if not better!"

Desiree raised a rather cynical eyebrow. "Now that's an insult to every Intelligence Agent out there on the field, risking their lives so you have ones to live."

Tony scowled. "What makes you think that we're not as good?"

"You're just not," she said, rather simply, "You're an _investigative_ service, for crying out loud. You're the guys who go out to a crime scene, and gather the intelligence that we put to good use."

"Which means that you rely on us," Tony said smugly.

"Relying on you to give us information is not the same as relying on you to go out on a mission to make sure some psychotic idiot doesn't blow up the world, or to start a nuclear war, or to force the world into a state of complete anarchy," Dessi said, rolling her eyes, "Heck, the information you collect doesn't even make up one quarter of the intelligence _we_ rely on out in the field."

"Sorry to interrupt," McGee cut in, "But where exactly is this going?"

"Wherever you want it to go," Dessi said, with all the vagueness of a true spy.

Tony and McGee exchanged wary glances. They'd dealt with spies before. Heck, they dealt with Ziva on a daily basis. But it was usually the whole physical aspect, like being beaten up by a woman, that they dealt with. This was the first time they were faced with the mind games which spies played; from here on, they would have to tread very carefully.

.

"Really!" Ben laughed. "Oh, that girl is priceless!"

He, Rose and Alex were going through the things he'd snatched from Willard's room. Rose had taken the time to fill Ben in on the events he'd missed out on. She'd taken great pleasure in recounting each and every stage of the face-off between Dessi and Gibbs.

"You should've seen the look on some of the NCIS agents' faces!" Rose grinned. "It was like they'd never seen Gibbs back down or something!"

"So, I take it that Dessi's become our honorary unit leader, then?"

Rose nodded. "Why not."

Matthew had gone outside, perhaps to talk to Ziva (who was still on the phone). Or maybe he just needed to get away from Alex for a while. It seemed to take a lot of effort for the two not to physically start attacking each other.

Alex meanwhile, was going through what appeared to be a diary or sorts, or a reflective journal. Whatever it was, Willard had written quite a lot of things in, only he seemed to be using some sort of code. Either that, or he had _really_ bad grammar.

"Hang on..." Alex suddenly muttered, after rereading the same phrase four times in a row.

Rose and Ben looked up questioningly. "Yeah? You found something?"

Alex blinked. "Well, maybe...here, take a look at this sentence, and tell me what you think."

Ben took the journal and frowned thoughtfully at the passage Alex had pointed out, while Rose read it over his shoulder.

"It...it seems to be locations he's met up with his boss..." Ben trailed off.

"Michaelis Menten!" Rose said excitedly. "Look! These three places are mentioned so many more times than the others – the park with the wildflower blooms, the alleyway with eternal light, and the shed behind the blue-grass building!"

"Erm...none of them make any sense," Alex pointed out.

"He's a lot more poetic than I thought," Ben commented.

Rose frowned. "Yeah, I think we're going to need help with figuring this out."

"I got it," Alex smiled, before turning to the closed door and shouting, "Dessi! We need help!"

"That's your plan?"

.

"...I'm not asking for much. I don't need your pity. I don't need your sympathy. What I need is your corporation, so we can end this once and for all," Dessi finished, crystal blue eyes fixed on Tony, "That's all I ask."

A shout from Alex in the next room drew Dessi's attention. And as she left, head held high, fighting against the flow of the world, Tony couldn't help the grudging respect he felt building for the girl.

.


	19. Ambush

_Yay! Update! _

**Chapter 19**

They were all seated on the floor in a rather wide circle, with a huge map spread out in the centre. Gibbs was still missing, something that was obviously worrying the NCIS agents, though they did their best to hide it. K-Unit were also still "patrolling", though Dessi had them on call so that they could hear the discussion.

Several places on the map were circled, highlighted, or crossed out, with notes written beside each. A sense of tension, and anticipation, hung in the air.

"Bloody heck," Dessi sighed, sitting back up, "Ow..."

Before Alex or Matthew could say anything, Tony beat them to it. "You okay?"

Everyone, even Dessi looked a bit surprised, but she quickly got over it and gave him a nod. "I will be, once my back decides to corporate with me again."

A look of understanding seemed to pass between the two, causing quite a lot of raised eyebrows and questioning looks, all of which were ignored.

"Right," Ben said, breaking the sudden silence, "I think we're agreed that the 'park with wildflower blooms' is this one right here, with all the paintings and photos of wildflowers," he pointed at one of the circled areas on the map. "The 'shed behind the blue-grass building'–"

"Is this here," McGee said, pointing at a circle on his side of the map. "I figured that the 'blue-grass' probably did not refer to grass being blue. The only other explanation, however, was a computer program so advanced I didn't think it was ready for commercial use."

"Wait...a computer program called 'blue-grass'?" Rose asked.

McGee nodded. "Essentially what it does is convert a normal looking website, usually a bank's website or something similar, into another, so that while you're using that website, all your information is transferred to another computer, because the website you've used has been corrupted with the blue-grass so that it looks normal, but has been modified."

Ziva blinked. "I did not get any of that."

"It's basically a hacking program," McGee sighed. "So I ran diagnostic searches through the buildings in this area. This particular building was the only one to come up with the blue-grass trace."

"Is there a shed behind that building?" Matthew asked.

"Well, it's not so much a shed as it is a bomb-shelter from the second world war. I'm not entirely sure why they've kept it up though..."

"Well, that's good enough," Dessi said. "Now, the third location–"

"The 'alley of eternal light'," Rose laughed, though without humour, "This one was rather hard."

"We've managed to narrow down the location to two places," Dessi continued, "Here...and here."

"We figured in this location, because of the lights that are always turned on, even during the day," Alex said, "In no other alleyway have we managed to find that trait."

"And this one," Matthew added, "Was due to the millions of mirror and glass covering the walls of the alley, reflecting any and all light so that the alley is lit up twenty-four/seven."

"_I really hope you guys are going to send us the directions_," Snake's voice suddenly came on through Dessi's phone, which had been put onto loudspeaker, "_Or at least a copy of the map."_

"You would be able to see it for yourself if you weren't so selfish as to avoid the planning stages," Ben pointed out.

"_Fox, just 'cause you've differed to the other side doesn't mean we all will_," Eagle said in a tone that suggested he was also sticking his tongue out at the phone.

"_Anyway_, what I suggest we do," Desiree interrupted, causing the light bickering to cease, "Is stakeout these areas, gather some intelligence, and maybe if we're lucky we'd be able to get a glimpse of some agents who're working for Menten."

Before anyone could comment, the door opened to reveal Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who was laden down with quite a lot of things, including several cups of coffee. He greeted the room with a twitch of his eyebrow, before proceeding to join their circle – McGee and Tony had to shuffle to give him room.

"Glad you're back," Dessi said.

"Glad to be back."

"Where were you, anyway?"

"Getting coffee," Gibbs said, passing the cups out while sipping his own. "Among other things."

"What's in the bags?" Alex asked curiously.

Gibbs merely gave him a rather mysterious smile. He opened one of the bags, and pulled out a box. "I used NCIS funds to get untraceable phones. Abby helped pick them out," he added when he saw the dumbstruck looks on his agents. Those looks cleared up almost immediately.

"_Erm...Abby?_" Shark's voice came out of the phone, causing Gibbs to shoot it a rather curious look.

"NCIS's forensics expert," Ziva said.

"These are actually a good idea," Dessi said, though very grudgingly, as she accepted her new phone. "Here," she added, tossing her old one to Gibbs, "You can have it for safe-keeping."

It took them all of five minutes to fill Gibbs in on the things he'd missed. It took all of three minutes for Ziva to almost completely destroy her new phone, before McGee rescued it from her impatient clutches.

"And the plan?" Gibbs finally asked.

"Go stakeout these four areas," Dessi said, "And see if we can get lucky."

Gibbs shrugged. "Better than nothing. I'd suggest at least pairs, more if possible. Unless you have a better idea?"

"No, I was going to suggest that too," Dessi said.

"I think they're getting along," Rose whispered to Alex.

"I think you just jinxed it," he whispered back.

"Okay. Rose, Ben and Shark, I'd like you guys to take the 'part with wildflower blooms'. Wolf, Eagle, Snake – I want you to cover the 'shed behind the blue-grass building'. Ziva, DiNozzo, McGee, you guys take the alley with the lights, and Matthew and I will take the mirrored alley," Dessi said, the perfect picture of a general ordering her troops.

"What about me?" Alex asked.

"Alex, stay here with Gibbs. You're going to be headquarters," Dessi said.

Alex shot her a rather glum look, and slumped back, slightly disappointed at having to remain behind. Dessi motioned for everyone to get ready, and the group dispersed.

"Alex, can I talk to you?"

The boy sighed, but let Dessi pull him to a relatively deserted corner.

"Look, I know you're not happy about staying behind, but I need someone here who I can trust," she said rather bluntly.

"Why not Rose? Or Ben? Or even Matthew?"

"Rose and Ben have worked together far longer than either have worked with you. And Matthew is my field partner. He has to go with me. Sorry," she sighed, "But those are the rules. If they weren't, I'd partner you in a flash."

Alex blinked at her. "Um..."

There was a small smile playing around Dessi's lips. "Yeah."

"Well..." Alex breathed.

"I'll see you later."

She was gone before Alex could blink. But when he finally recovered his senses, he registered the faint, pleasant tingling on his cheek.

_Did she just...?_

.

"I don't see anything," Rose sighed.

"Neither."

"Well, I see a lot of kids," Shark said, rather unhelpfully.

The 'park with wildflower blooms' was, though very beautiful, a complete dead-zone. Children, parents, tourists, flocked the place, making it almost impossible to see what they wanted.

"Shark, you report back to headquarters. Rose, we'll split up and meet at that painting in fifteen. If you see anything –"

"Let everyone know." Rose smiled.

.

"_We don't have anything so far_," Came Shark's voice through the receiver.

"Copy that," Alex replied.

"Keep looking, they'll be there somewhere," Gibbs added.

"_Roger. Shark out_."

Alex sat back with a sigh. "This isn't turning out so well, is it?"

Gibbs smiled. "That's usually how stakeouts go. When you get something, it's over in a blink. But most of the time –"

"You sit around, bored," Alex finished.

"_This is Snake. The shed's completely empty – well, except for a whole lot of weapons which I'm sure are illegal. We're going to take a look, see if we can find who these guns belong to."_

"Take care," Alex said.

"_Copy that. Out."_

The two sat in silence for a while, staring at the various pieces of equipment that were all connected up in front of them. Alex broke it with a hesitant noise.

"Um...Gibbs? Can I ask you a question?"

Gibbs made a sound that Alex took as a 'yes'.

"Well, it's just...you don't seem to like the AIS very much," Alex bit his lip, unsure of how to phrase it, "I just...is there any chance you could tell me why?"

Gibbs laughed. "You spies are all the same. Always so curious," he shook his head. "I had a run in with an AIS agent when I was a lot younger."

"Didn't end too well?"

"You could say that. I was regarded as a delinquent," he said, out of nowhere.

"Oh?" Alex frowned, "Delinquent as in...rule-breaker?"

Gibbs nodded. "Ironic, that I should end up working for the law."

"_This is Swan. We've got nothing here, though with the lights being reflected by the mirrors, it's kind of hard to see. Not to mention it's getting really hot. You could probably cook a body during summer."_

"Nice to know, Dessi."

"_We're going to look further down the alley, in the not-as-well lit places. Swan out."_

Alex sat back, before looking over at Gibbs with a frown as something clicked in his mind.

"I take it the AIS has something to do with your change in heart, then?"

"Got it in one," Gibbs sighed.

"So...what happened?"

.

"Is this not a waste of electricity?"

"Well, I guess if it looks good enough, people will be prepared to pay."

Ziva and McGee were staring up at all the lights that were on, in the middle of the day. It really was pointless, since the lights couldn't outshine the sun.

"Alright you two, back to work," Tony said. "Ziva, are your spidey-senses tingling yet?"

Ziva rolled her eyes. "No. I will let you know if that happens."

"I think we should split up."

"Why?" McGee asked.

"Because then, we can cover more ground," Tony said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world (which, it kinda was). "And if we cover more ground, we'll be able to get out of here faster."

Ziva shrugged. "I am good with that. I shall take this end of the alley."

"I've got that side," Tony said.

"Fine, I'll just stay here, shall I?" McGee sighed.

"Call us if you need help!"

.

"I was younger," Gibbs said with a humourless smile, "A lot younger. More naive. Thought I was the best. The toughest. The bravest."

"So...haven't changed much, then?" Alex said, trying to lighten the suddenly dark mood. Judging by the eye-roll tossed his way, it didn't work.

"Point is, I thought I was the best thing that ever happened to my town, and I never let them forget it for a second. I'd gotten in trouble with the law so many times that the Sheriff and I might've been the best of friends.

"There was a day when a new family moved in. They had a daughter, really beautiful. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Different accent. You could tell they weren't from around," he said. When Alex nodded in understanding, he went on. "I really was drawn to the girl. New meat and all that. She kept rebuffing my efforts, but in the end I got her."

"I don't want to know the details," Alex cut in hastily.

"Nor would I share them," Gibbs smiled. "Thing is though, I found myself falling in love."

Alex winced. "I think I know where this is going."

"Yeah. I'd never been in love before; I'll be the first to admit that all the previous girls had been more of a...territorial claim if you like. So here I was, young, naive, and in love. Not the best combination."

"What happened?"

Gibbs sighed. "My father was in the US Army Air Force during the second world war. And a little after it, too. He was rather high ranking. Very important. Turns out, he was a little too important."

"Easiest way to attract unwanted attention," Alex said.

Gibbs acknowledged him with a slight tilt of his head. "Exactly. He knew something, some vital piece of badly wanted information. Information which he wasn't about to give up without a fight. So they decided to take it the next best way – through a father's son.

"By the time I'd realised what I'd done, that the girl I'd fallen in love with wasn't who she said she was, her and her fake family had upped and gone."

"And broken your heart in the process," Alex muttered.

"Well," Gibbs smiled, "Yeah, you could put it like that."

.

It was as she almost reached the end of the alleyway that Ziva felt the faint tremor run through her body, the tremor that Tony had so thoughtfully dubbed her 'spidey-senses'. As subtly as she could, she reached into her holster and carefully extracted her gun.

"You won't need that."

The cold voice made Ziva's blood freeze; that, and the sound of five guns being taken off safety, the clicks ringing ominously around the deserted alley.

"Drop the gun, or we'll put a hole through that hand."

Her Mossad training kicked in, along with her sense of self-preservation, which was currently screaming at her that if she dropped her gun, she'd be completely defenceless against the five or so that were pointed at her.

"Not if I put a hole through you first," she muttered, before abruptly spinning around.

Her fingers curled around the trigger as she rapidly fired her gun, all the while lunging sideways to hide behind the rather conveniently placed dumpster.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

Three down. That meant two left. Two, plus the speaker, who was no doubt also armed.

This was _so_ not good.

"Come out, Officer Ziva David. It's three against one."

"I just took down three, did I not?" Ziva said. _How the heck does he know my name?_

"Maybe, however I also know for a fact that the service weapon you are currently using was only loaded with four bullets this morning. Three used. One to go."

Ziva shivered. _Was this guy psychic? _Carefully, she lifted her head to look out over the top of the dumpster. Her eyes widened at the sight, and she flung herself to the ground again, as several shots flew just shy of her head. Then it grew quiet.

Too quiet.

A tremor wrecked through her body, warning her of the approaching threat. Without a second thought, she threw herself away from the safety of the dumpster. And not a moment too soon; one of the men had thrown themselves over the top of the dumpster, landing in the position where she'd crouched just seconds before.

But now, she was out in the open. And as Ziva straightened, gun clutched in hand, the remaining three men closed in.

.

"When did you realise she was from the AIS?" Alex asked.

"My father. He realised what had happened – must've been obvious, seeing his once rather destructive son do nothing but mope around the house," Gibbs laughed. "He called in some favours, and found out about the girl. After that I swore I'd never fall for something like that again."

"Tony said you seem to go for red-heads," Alex said.

"Tony's told you a little too much," Gibbs replied, though the smile playing around his lips was one of amusement. "But yes. I rather suspect that the AIS girl had something to do with that change of heart."

Alex laughed, but before he could say anything else, a rather shrill ringtone went off, causing him to pat his pockets to locate his mobile. "That's not mine," he said, pulling out his phone.

"Not mine either," Gibbs frowned, staring at the dark screen of his phone.

"So where..."

"This one," Gibbs pulled a small mobile out from under a massive stack of paper.

"Hey! That's Dessi's phone!" Alex exclaimed recognising the rather dented mobile.

"She left it here for safe-keeping," Gibbs muttered, fiddling around on the still-shrieking phone. "How do you turn this thing off?"

"Here," Alex said, grabbing the mobile off Gibbs. It seemed to be a standard AIS issue phone, like the ones he'd played with in Australia (behind the team's back, of course. And if anyone asks – no, it wasn't him who changed Jake's ringtone to "Barbie Girl"...).

Three quick taps on the hidden button, and he'd unlocked the phone.

"Got it," Alex grinned triumphantly, as the ringing stopped. "It's a text, with a picture attached! Didn't realise Dessi's phone was –"

The smile abruptly slid off his face as the picture popped up onto the screen. Dessi's phone fell from his suddenly numb hands, only to be caught by Gibbs.

"Hey Rider, you okay?"

"Look...picture..." Alex whispered.

Gibbs tossed the spy a rather concerned look before dropping his gaze to the (a little too high resolution) screen. A second later, he was on his feet, calling in all the teams through the headphones and announcing an immediate retreat. The mobile lay on the table where it had been tossed carelessly aside, looking so small and innocent.

There, on the screen, was the very clear picture that had been sent to Dessi's phone. On the ground of a bright alley, showing no signs of life, and lying in a pool of her own blood, was Ziva.

.

_CLIFFIE! _

_Okay, please don't kill me...please..._

_But yeah...also __**REVIEW!**_

_I did say that I was going to be bringing on the action..._

_Love Chariots99_


	20. Actions and Consequences

**Chapter 20**

"She looks so fragile."

"She did get beaten up rather badly."

"I've just never seen her look like this. So..."

"Vulnerable?"

"Yeah."

Tony and McGee were seated around Ziva's bed, talking in quiet tones. In between them lay the beaten Mossad officer, down but at least not dead. She was still unconscious, but that could also be due to all the drugs the doctors had pumped into her to keep her alive.

It was almost painful to look at Ziva's face. Thankfully, the hospital staff – mindful of privacy – had draped a thin blanket over the woman to cover the worst of her injuries. Nothing though, could hide all the monitors in the room, nor the wires, nor the tubes.

The door slid open to reveal Gibbs, a worried frown on his face, and three cups of coffee in his hands. Silently, he handed two over to Tony and McGee, who took their cue to get up and leave.

Gibbs sat down next to Ziva's bed, carefully taking one of her hands into his own; a rather difficult feat considering the amount of wires and tubes connected to Ziva.

"I don't know if you can hear me," Gibbs began, "But I just want you to know that everyone's here for you. Anytime you want to wake up, there'll be someone here. We've got K-Unit guarding your door around the clock. Tony and McGee will take it in turns to sit by you, along with some of the MI6 team. And you know I'll be here."

Gibbs sighed, taking a sip of his coffee. "We just want you to be alright again. Take the time to heal. The sooner you get better, the sooner you can go after the bastard that did this to you."

The door opened again, and a woman dressed all in blue walked in. Gibbs stood up to give her room so that she could see the readings on all the monitors.

"Thanks," the woman smiled.

Gibbs nodded. There was a brief moment of silence before he asked, "How is she, doctor?"

"As well as to be expected," the woman said, "She'll definitely make a full recovery, though there may be some scarring here and there. And I'm not a doctor. Just a Registrar, though this is my last year."

"Either way."

"Oh, I'm Lisa Bee," the woman said, holding out her hand, "I've been assigned this room and the two either side to oversee, so I'll be in and out a lot."

Gibbs smiled, and shook her hand. "Gibbs."

"Nice to meet you. So, how are you related to Miss David?"

"It's pronounced Da-veed," Gibbs corrected automatically, "And I'm her...favourite uncle."

"Fair enough," Lisa nodded, a secretive smile playing around her lips, "I won't tell."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows, though he returned the smile.

There was a silence in the room as Lisa adjusted some of the machines around Ziva's bed, before she suddenly sighed. "I don't think I want to become a hospital doctor."

"Um..."

"It's just," Lisa smiled sadly, "It's hard to see someone like this, you know? I don't think I could live through each and every day, trying to help people who come in so severely injured."

"So, what do you want to do then?" Gibbs asked, sitting down once more.

"Oh, I'd like to be a psychiatrist," Lisa said, a happy glint entering her eyes. "I'd still be doing what I love, you know, helping others get better, but I won't be faced with all...this," she said, gesturing to Ziva's wounds.

"Well, all the best to you, then," Gibbs said.

"Thank you," Lisa smiled. "And Miss David should be waking up in a few hours, if not sooner. When she does, could you get someone to find either me or one of the nurses? Thanks."

.

Desiree Swan was a mess. Alex had never seen her in such a state. She had yet to move from her position on the bed. A never ending stream of tears slid down her face. The rather rhythmic and continuous thud of her head hitting the wall echoed through the empty room.

Matthew had failed to get her attention, much to his disappointment. Now it was Alex's turn.

"Dessi?"

The girl didn't move. Crystal blue eyes fixed unwaveringly at the ceiling.

Alex sighed, closing the door behind him. After a moment's hesitation, he locked it too, before making his way over to the bed.

"Dessi?" He said, sitting down next to her.

There was no reaction.

"Dessi! Snap out of it!"

There was a beat of silence, before the girl spoke for the first time that day.

"It's my fault."

Alex blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"It's my fault." Bright blue eyes suddenly snapped down, and held Alex's own gaze. "It's my fault that Ziva's in hospital. I was the one who assigned her to stake out that alley, when I knew full well there was a chance Menten might be there!"

Alex stared at the girl, placing a hand either side of her face when she tried to look away. "You do realise anyone you sent there would've been attacked right?"

"Exactly! I should've gone there!"

"And how would you have known that Menten was going to show up there?" Alex whispered heatedly, leaning in closer and closer. When Dessi did nothing but gaze at him, he continued. "How could you have known where Menten would've been? That was the whole point of the stake-out wasn't it? He could have shown up at any of the locations! You couldn't possibly have been able to predict which –"

And suddenly he was cut off by a pair of lips pressed against his own. The tears still wet on her face mingled with their kiss, desperate, hungry.

At some point, it did cross Alex's mind to end the kiss and back off. But then Dessi was pulling him down on top of her, and her hands were reaching under his shirt...and then the aforementioned shirt was being thrown halfway across the room...

"Wait," Alex gasped, momentarily ending the kiss – though his lips remained against her skin, softly tracing her jaw line and licking the occasional scar, "Have you done this before?"

"Yes," Dessi panted, barely suppressing a groan, "You?"

"Yes."

"Good." And so saying, she grabbed the back of his head and forced their lips together once more.

.

_...Hm...yeah...erm...um...er...hm..._

_I'm not entirely sure what to say for myself...hope you liked that chapter? _

_I know that it seems like they just suddenly decided to jump each other, but in my defence...well, I don't really have one. It just seemed to fit the whole spy stereotype to randomly do something like this._

_Anyway, I'd really appreciate some __**REVIEWS**__ to let me know that this wasn't a complete fail :)_

_Looking forwards to hearing from you!_

_Love Chariots99 _

_Ps – some of you have commented that in this story, Alex seems to be taking a backseat role. Well, the reason is that this story is meant to focus a little more on Dessi, for the pure reason that she's the catalyst for the sequel (yes, there is a sequel – I figured that since I have yet to mentally harm anyone, I might as well. Plus I've got what I reckon is a pretty good idea).So anyway, this story is more Dessi orientated but don't worry – I'm sure Alex will jump in and save the day (sooner or later...)_


	21. One Step Closer

_Thank you all so much for those reviews! I had a tremendous response (and quite a few people guessing my storyline). Thank you all so much! _

**Chapter 21**

It was comfortable.

Warm.

Desiree slowly opened her eyes to find herself face to face with the still sleeping Alex. A gentle smile graced her lips as she ran a hand through his hair. In sleep, he looked so soft. So...innocent.

Dessi had to suppress a snort as that last thought came into her head. Really, after what happened last night, the word innocent should no longer be used in conjunction with Alex Rider.

She lay there for a while longer, enjoying the feel of bare skin pressed against her own, supplying another source of heat, reminding her that she was no longer alone. Eventually though, she dragged herself out of bed, carefully tucking the blanket around Alex so that he could keep sleeping comfortably.

It took a while to locate her clothes, all of which had been tossed carelessly around the room. When she was finally decent, she unlocked the door and quietly slipped out, leaving Alex to some well-earned and much needed sleep.

There was only one person in the other room. Everyone else must still be at the hospital with Ziva. Dessi bit her lip, praying once more that the woman would be fine.

She approached 'Super' Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, who was currently on the phone to someone with a very excited voice.

"Hello," Dessi said, leaning over the couch.

"Holy sweet Jesus!" Tony exclaimed, startled. "Must you sneak up on me like that?"

Dessi blinked at him. "Sorry. I thought I was being rather loud."

Tony scowled at her, before putting his phone back to his ear, all the while muttering something about 'crazy ninja spies' under his breath. Dessi merely rolled her eyes.

"Who're you talking to?" She asked, bending over and trying to listen in on the conversation.

"Abby," Tony said, "And it's none of your concern."

"_Tony, who's there?"_ Came Abby's voice.

"Eh, no-one," Tony shrugged, before catching sight of Dessi's raised eyebrow and hastily adding, "Desiree."

"Pleased to meet you," Dessi added, leaning in towards the mobile. Tony shook his head, and put the mobile on loudspeaker, getting a nod of thanks in return.

"_You too_," Abby replied, though there was a puzzled tone in her voice. "_I don't know you, do I?_"

"Probably not," Dessi said, "But I get the feeling that I know you. Miss Abigail Sciuto, NCIS forensic specialist, hopelessly addicted to Caf-Pow, and probably the happiest Goth in the world."

There was a pause on the line before Abby said in a weak voice, "_I'm not addicted..._"

"How did you know all that?" Tony asked, amazed.

"How d'you think?" Dessi smirked.

"Oh right, I forgot."

"_I'm sorry, but I think I'm missing something here,_" Abby interrupted.

Dessi laughed. "Right, sorry about that. I'm Desiree Swan, nice to formally –"

"_SHHHHH! Not so loud!"_ Abby suddenly shouted, causing both Dessi and Tony to jump in shock.

"Um...Abs, you okay?" Tony asked.

"_The NCIS phone lines are bugged_," Abby whispered, "_They might hear her name."_

Dessi and Tony exchanged amused glances. "Your director already knows I'm working with you guys," she said.

"_Oh! Well, in that case,_" and her voice was back to a normal level.

"So, what were you two working on?" Dessi asked.

"The picture that was sent to...er...well, your mobile," Tony said, gesturing awkwardly to the offending item. "I asked Abby to see if she could trace the phone that took the photo."

"_Normally this would be McGee's job_," Abby carried on," _But, you know, with the whole guarding thing..."_

"Yeah," Dessi said quietly, "I know."

There was a slight pause before Abby said, "_I hope you know that we don't blame you in the slightest."_

Dessi blinked. "How..."

"_Call it a woman's intuition._" Even over the phone, you could hear the satisfied smirk in Abby's voice. "_Anyway, back to the picture. So I managed to trace the signal, though in a rather roundabout manner. Oh my God, the line that was used is so amazing! It had the most advanced scrambler I've ever seen! Well, aside from that one that that guy had shown me a couple of days ago, but still! The signal is basically impossible to trace; I had to hack into three dozen different out-links to piece together the signal of the phone, and then from there –"_

"Abby!" Tony interrupted loudly. "Can you get to the point? Please?"

"_Right, right_," Abby said hastily, "_Well, the phone was moving around quite a bit, but for the last hour and three seconds, it's stayed in this one area. Four. Five."_

"Okay, we get it," Tony laughed. "Send me the address?"

"_Already doing it_."

"Well Desiree, looks like it'll be you, me and the boys – Dessi?" Tony frowned, looking around. "Where did she go?"

For Desiree had turned tail the moment Abby had said she'd found a location. After all, she had a score to settle with Menten. First, she should really inform Matthew, and perhaps Alex too, if the boy was awake...

Dessi was interrupted from her train of thought when she pushed open the door to the adjourning bedroom in time to see Alex aim a hard punch at Matthew's nose with deadly precision.

.

It was bright.

Too bright.

Alex groaned, rolling onto his side and burying his head under his pillow in an attempt to block out the irritating sunlight that had decided to aim directly for his closed eyes. Though it had the desired effect, he was still up a second later.

Something was missing.

It took a while to realise it wasn't something, but someone. When that penetrated his sleep-clouded mind, Alex dropped back down with a groan. He'd never woken up alone after spending the night with someone else.

And though he knew that Dessi didn't exactly think things through with the same logic normal people used, it still made him feel slightly rejected.

Shaking off the feeling of self-pity, Alex started to get dressed. It was a rather difficult task, since most of his clothes were scattered around the entire room, but he got there eventually (after fishing out his pants from under the bed...how it got there, he had no clue).

Before he could leave the room though, the door opened of its own accord. Well maybe not, since Matthew Lake walked in before slamming the door shut. And boy, did he looked annoyed.

"Erm...what's up?" Alex said nervously. Matthew didn't answer.

In retrospect, Alex should've seen what was coming. But he didn't. And that's why, when Matthew's fist connected with his jaw a moment later, he staggered backwards and almost fell from his complete lack of preparation.

"What the hell, man?" Alex shouted.

"I know what you did," Matthew hissed, advancing once more.

"What on earth are you goin' on about?" Alex asked, bewildered, nursing his stinging jaw.

"Don't play stupid with me!" Matthew yelled. "She was upset! How dare you take advantage of her!"

This time, Alex was prepared for the punch that came his way. He pivoted to the side, before grabbing the offending arm and using Matthew's momentum to drag the two together.

"Listen closely, 'cause I'm only going to say this once," Alex snarled, "I would _never_ do something as _low_ as to take advantage of a woman. I don't know _how_ you jumped to that conclusion, but don't let it happen again."

And before Matthew could respond, Alex swung his fist around. It connected with Matthew's nose, emitting a very pleasing cracking sound.

Matthew dropped to the ground, clutching his most-likely-broken nose. At the same moment, a voice interrupted them.

"What the hell, Matthew, what did you do?" Desiree was suddenly there, dropping down beside her field partner.

Both boys looked at her in surprise (well, surprise and pain in Matthew's case).

Dessi rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look. I know perfectly well that Alex wouldn't have punched you unless you were a terrorist, or you started it. Since I personally ran you bloody background checks, I know it has to be the latter."

Alex tossed Matthew a smirk over the girl's shoulder, before asking Dessi, "So what did you come in for anyway?"

"We've got a fixed location for Menten's phone," Dessi said grimly, standing back up, "If you boys have finished, we're going to go check it out."

The location turned out to be right next to a small, trickling stream. Throughout the entire journey, Alex and Matthew ignored each other, Dessi ignored the both of them, and Tony sat in the rather uncomfortable silence, driving a little faster than he usually would.

For some reason, Dessi looked slightly bewildered at the location. Figuring it would be best to leave her be, Alex decided to take charge.

"Okay, this place is clearly deserted," he said, turning on the other two. "Which means that Menten left his phone around. Which means he wanted us to find it. Which probably means –"

"Another message," Tony muttered, glancing around.

"Yeah," Alex said grimly. "I'd say, split up and search for the phone, but make sure to stay within sight of the others."

"Agreed," Tony said. Matthew refused to comment, but nonetheless followed Alex's suggestion.

Alex padded silently along the bank of the stream, being careful not to actually fall in. His eyes scanned the ground, and the clear water, to try and locate the phone. A triumphant shout from Tony scratched that idea out.

It was as Alex turned to head back that he saw the note. Stuck in between the branches of the over-hanging tree, clearly an out-of-place object trying to blend in with its surroundings.

Frowning, Alex picked the note off the tree, before opening it. He froze, reread it, then crumpled it up and threw it into the trickling stream, while silently vowing not to let Dessi know of its contents, ever.

_Nice try Swannie. Wood would've been proud..._

.

_Okay, so that chapter may have been a little off. But this is because I'm really sick right now, and I really can't think straight._

_Please review, and help me get better!_

_Love Chariots99_


	22. A New Beginning

_You may be wondering about the lack of updates? Well, I really only have one word: virus. I thought that since I've got an anti-virus thingy, I wouldn't be infected. Well...how wrong was I?_

_Anyway, thanks for sticking by me, and here's the next installment!_

**Chapter 22**

Alex hadn't spoken to Matthew since the Incident the previous day. He felt that he was perfectly justified in acting that way, since the boy had literally assaulted him without any prior motivation (well, aside from the fact that he couldn't get the girl he wanted, and had thus somehow come to the conclusion that it was all Alex's fault...).

Unfortunately, Dessi had become annoyed at his "childish behaviour", and had thus decided to ignore both boys. Which was a pity, since it meant that he had to contend with Matthew's triumphant look each time the girl brushed him off.

Luckily though, a distraction soon arrived that caused all three to forget about the silent treatment.

"Ziva!"

The surprised shout tore through their rented room, and sent people tearing out of their various spots to the front door, where the very-battered-but-but-definitely-alive Mossad agent was standing, a big smile on her face.

"How're you feeling?"

"D'you want to sit down?"

"Want any water? Food? Coffee?"

"Guys, guys! Settle down!" Tony said, waving his arms madly from his position behind Ziva. "Let the woman through!"

"Don't mind him; he lost to McGee," Ziva said, grinning, as McGee came in with the car keys, looking very pleased with himself. K-Unit, who had basically allocated themselves as Ziva's personal protectors, sniggered in the background.

Slowly, Ziva made her way to the nearest couch, which was promptly cleared of all its items. When she'd made herself comfortable – and shot pointed looks at everyone else to _stop crowding her_ – she asked: "So, what did I miss?"

Alex, Tony and Ben took turns in filling the others in. Halfway through Tony's explanation about contacting Abby (then explaining who Abby was), Alex looked up to see Dessi detach herself from the rest to make her way towards Gibbs, who'd somehow come in unnoticed.

They were talking in quiet tones, about what Alex wasn't sure, but it definitely looked like Dessi was apologizing. Especially judging by the look on Gibb's face.

_If it makes her feel better_, Alex thought wryly, before turning back and joining the retelling once more.

.

Half an hour later, with each member of their extended and heavily liaised team caught up to speed, they broke up once more to trace the path of Michaelis Menten, the ghost.

Ziva was itching for revenge; so much so that they literally had to wrestle her gun away from her and pin her down to stop the agent from personally tracking Menten down herself.

"We need to find him before you can exact revenge," Rose had finally pointed out. It was enough to get Ziva to drop into the couch with an annoyed sigh, before pulling out her phone and no doubt calling in several favours.

McGee had gotten in contact with Abby once more, and seemed to be debating with her about the best way to hack into the FBI database. Matthew was on the phone with the AIS Director of Intelligence. K-Unit had disappeared to "protect their base" – which pretty much translated to "get some coffee while the rest of you do the boring part of your job".

Alex had somehow managed to get himself roped into Ben and Rose's half cooked plan. Since he had the highest rank (maybe not on paper, but definitely in situations such as this one), he'd been assigned the task of calling up headquarters and trying to access info that way. Apparently, it was working.

And Dessi? Well, she was sitting cross-legged on one of the tables lined up against the wall. Normally she was well in the thick of things but right now, she was rather content to just sit back and observe.

Of course, her momentary solitude wouldn't last long..

"Here," Gibbs said, holding out a very familiar-looking knife in his hand. "Take it."

Dessi started, blinking several times before meeting Gibbs's gaze. "Sudden change of heart?" She asked, accepting the knife and fingering the handle, "Didn't see this coming."

"Nah," Gibbs smiled, sitting down next to the girl, "More like, returning a belonging to its rightful owner."

Dessi tucked the knife away carefully. For a while, they sat in silence, before Gibbs said something that completely threw the girl.

"He was a good kid; Jake."

She whipped around to stare at him so fast that she was sure she heard something crack. Gibbs must've heard it too, for he let out a soft laugh; or maybe, he just found her shocked expression amusing.

"You knew him?" Dessi whispered.

Gibbs nodded. "Worked with him, in fact. Of course, at the time, I didn't realise it. Thought he was just some kid caught up in a mess. Wasn't until after he left that I found out the truth."

"Probably for the better. You'd never have trusted him otherwise."

"Touché," Gibbs said, tilting his head in acknowledgement.

Silence overtook the pair once more as they sat, watching the others bustle around, comparing notes and whatnot. It was once again Gibbs who broke the silence.

"It was his first mission."

Dessi looked up sharply. Then, realization dawned on her face. "His first mission was in Washington DC. He told me once; he'd never seen the snow–"

" – Until he came here," Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, he told me that too. Good kid," he said again, "Had some sense of self-preservation, unlike most of the spies I've worked with."

"Like Ziva?"

"Like Ziva. I gave him the knife, you know."

Dessi started. Gibbs hadn't changed his tone – it was still amiable – but they both understood the importance of his words. "You..."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Seemed like he needed it; rule number nine, remember?"

"Introducing good habits?" Dessi asked, absentmindedly fiddling with the hidden knife.

"Better late than never."

"Thank you."

It was strange, how those two words could bear so much weight, so much meaning, behind their simplicity.

Gibbs acknowledged her with a nod and a smile. He might've added something else too, If Tony had not rushed up, excitement flashing in his eyes.

"Boss, we've found it; the location of the spy ring's headquarters."

.

It was an old building, more an abandoned factory really. The windows were long shattered, the walls outside painted with graffiti. There were holes in the roof, visible even from their position on the ground. Several of the doors hung on its hinges, dangling precariously in the wind.

In short, it was the last place you'd expect to find one of the most lethal spy rings in the world.

Outside, the group was preparing to raid the factory and the contingent of double-crossing spies that had been spotted inside during their stakeout. Neither Ziva nor McGee would be going in, something which the Mossad agent was furious about.

But it had been doctor's orders for her not to do anything strenuous for a few days, and participating in a shoot-off with a deadly spy ring was most definitely classified as 'strenuous'. For his part, McGee just seemed rather happy at the prospect of not using a gun.

"Not that it makes you any less of a man," Tony said, clapping McGee on the shoulder.

McGee merely rolled his eyes, before clipping his headset in place and running one final check on the four or so computers surrounding him. Tony turned back to the circle, where Dessi had just finished going over the plan once more.

"Alright guys, let's roll," she finished quietly.

"Remember everyone; don't go through the rickety doors!" Rose said cheerfully, hoisting her shotgun up. "They've been booby trapped to go 'kaboom'!"

"Nice way of putting it," Eagle grinned.

"I said, _let's roll_," Dessi emphasised once more.

They spread out in their assigned groups; Wolf and Eagle sneaking around back, Rose and Ben covering one side whilst Tony and Shark crouched by the other. Alex, Dessi and Matthew hid either side of the main entrance, waiting the signal.

"_Snake, Boss, you are in the clear_," McGee's voice came over their headsets.

And suddenly, a hail of withering sniper fire rained down upon the factory, causing the men inside to shout in panic. Alex had no doubt, especially with Gibbs's aim, that quite a few of the men had already been taken out.

And Snake was definitely no light weight when it came to snipers either.

The next second, Desiree had burst through the front doors, gun up and firing, with Alex and Matthew hot on her heels. Two other doors burst open to reveal Wolf, Eagle, Rose and Ben.

There were more spies in the room than they'd accounted for, and Alex knew that at any moment, their element of surprise wouldn't be enough to tide them over.

But for now, they had the advantage.

And then, it all started to go wrong.

The spies had recovered, and their own guns were up and firing. Matthew had been taken down in the first wave, his leg bleeding profusely. Not for the first time, Alex was extremely grateful to NCIS for providing them all with bullet-proof vests.

Tony and Shark chose that moment to burst through the door they'd been crouching by. Unfortunately, they'd misjudged the 'safe' doors which McGee had marked from his satellite images.

With an earth shattering "_boom_", the door exploded, rocking the very foundation of the already highly-unstable factory, and blowing Tony and Shark well away.

Inside, all gunfire ceased as both sides looked up to the roof, which was making a very ominous sounding noise.

And slowly, the roof began to collapse.

"Get out!" Wolf roared, shoving Eagle ahead of him and pausing to grab the injured Matthew.

It was chaos, as friend and foe alike scattered, trying to dodge the pieces of the roof that seemed intent on taking them out. Years of dust swirled around, clogging their lungs and dimming their eyesight.

And in the middle of it all, there was a sudden scream that stopped Alex's heart.

.

_CLIFFIE!_

_Yeah...okay...I'm in a strange mood. I think I've had too much sugar..._

_**REVIEW!**__ Xox to all reviewers :)_

_Competition__ – Yes, I'm holding a competition! For what? Well, I reckon that my Alex Rider series needs a name! And YOU could help me name it! The winning entry will get some kind of reward...which I've yet to figure out, but is probably going to be either a one-shot or a full blown story of some kind dedicated to them ;) So yeah, submit your ideas, since I'm too lazy to think of one!_

_**Please remember to leave a REVIEW!**_

_Love Chariots99_

_PS – shameless bit of self-advertising! Go check out my awesome new Harry Potter story __The Man's Sport__! It has Lily/James, Quidditch and the Marauders! Come on, you know you want to ;)_


	23. Trapped

**Chapter 23**

Gibbs watched in horror as the factory slowly collapsed. Beside him, Snake seemed to have stopped breathing.

It just...collapsed. How? What did they do wrong?

"_Boss? Boss, what should I do?"_

Strangely enough, it was McGee's panicked voice that broke Gibbs out of his shock-induced trance.

"Stay where you are. Apprehend any members of Menten's spy ring who come out. And give Ziva back her gun," Gibbs ordered, "Snake and I are going in."

"We are?" Snake asked, quickly disassembling his sniper.

"We are." Gibbs stood, not bothering to pack his own away; there would be time for that later. Instead, he just slung the sniper across his back, before drawing his gun. "Let's go."

By the time the two had arrived at the collapsed entrance, Eagle had just stumbled out. Coughing helplessly, he turned to help Wolf drag out a heavily bleeding and very pale looking Matthew. Gibbs immediately ordered for an ambulance to be called.

"Boss, ambulance is on its way," McGee reported back.

At the same time, Rose and Ben stumbled out, both coughing uncontrollably as their bodies fought to rid itself from the collection of years worth of dust and God-knows what else that had accumulated in the factory.

"Boss?" Ziva suddenly appeared, limping slightly. "Tony and Shark were blown backwards from the blast. Tony says he is okay, but Shark has some kind of head injury; I could not really make out what he was saying over the headset."

Gibbs frowned, before turning to face the survivors. "You two," he said, pointing to Wolf and Rose. They nodded, and before Gibbs had even given an instruction, had set off to locate Tony and Shark.

It was only after Rose and Wolf had helped Tony and the limping and very dazed looking Shark back, and after the ambulances had arrived, and after they'd caught thirteen out of the original seventeen spotted spies, did anyone realise that Alex and Desiree were still missing.

.

_Slowly, the roof began to collapse._

"_Get out!" Wolf roared, shoving Eagle ahead of him and pausing to grab the injured Matthew. _

_It was chaos, as friend and foe alike scattered, trying to dodge the pieces of the roof that seemed intent on taking them out. Years of dust swirled around, clogging their lungs and dimming their eyesight._

_And in the middle of it all, there was a sudden scream that stopped Alex's heart._

"Desiree!" Alex shouted, rushing back towards the scream.

Several pieces of the roof began to rain down on him, forcing Alex to use his arms as a protective barrier. Thankfully, the adrenaline pumping through him was enough to keep him from feeling the pain of being smashed repeatedly with metal and heavy plaster.

"Desiree!" He shouted again, and this time there was an answering call.

"Alex!" Desiree screamed.

It was only now, as he neared her, that Alex could pick out the choked quality to her cries.

"Dessi? De – woah!" Alex broke off in mid-shout as he almost tripped over a fallen body. The man wasn't moving. He swallowed heavily, hoping that it wasn't someone from their side.

"Dessi? Are...are you alright?"

"No I'm not alright!"

And suddenly, Desiree was right there in front of him. In fact, it had been so unexpected that did trip this time, over the poor girl, causing her to let out a sharp yelp when his foot connected with her ribs.

Wait...ribs?

It was only then that Alex realised Desiree was in fact on the ground, trapped under a rather large section of the roof. And...was it the really bad light, or was her face a lot paler than natural?

"Dessi?" Alex approached uncertainly.

"Alex," Desiree said through gritted teeth, not entirely able to mask the pain, "Get it _off_ me."

"I don't think so."

Alex spun around, while Desiree craned her neck as far as she could, to catch sight of two men belonging to the spy ring, probably the last two men still left standing inside the fallen factory. Unfortunately for Alex, what with Desiree trapped, it was two against one. What made it even worse was that the two spies both had guns...and his was nowhere to be found.

_Shit, I must have dropped it somewhere_, Alex cursed.

"Now be a good little boy," the blonde haired man – officially dubbed Blondie – continued, his gun aimed straight at Alex's heart, "And step away from the girl."

The other man – Freckles – merely stood beside Blondie with a supposedly sinister smirk on his face, though it really didn't terrify Alex at all, something the boy thought was prudent to point out.

"Shut your mouth," Freckles snarled, smirk wiped clean off his face.

And in that instant when Freckles' guard dropped, and Blondie's gun wavered just a fraction of an inch, Alex moved.

The main threat was the drawn gun (Freckles had, rather stupidly in Alex's opinion, left his own in its holster, hanging uselessly on his hip). So before anything else happened, Alex had to make sure that gun was gone.

It happened before Blondie could blink.

One moment, his gun was in his hand. Then next, there was a stinging pain that forced him to let go with a roar. The gun flew across the factory, almost in slow motion, and landed several metres away.

Too far to reach.

Alex fell back onto both feet, barely hiding his triumphant smirk. Behind him, he heard Desiree's soft sigh of relief.

Freckles blinked, blinked again, then roared in anger. He reached down to grab his own gun, with the full intention of killing the boy where he stood. Alex reacted faster.

It took a single well-placed kick to knock the gun halfway across the room. An elbow to the neck and a side-swipe to break the man's nose meant that for the moment, Freckles was out of business. Unfortunately, Blondie was more than capable of taking over.

Alerted by a shout from Dessi, Alex swung around and ducked under Blondie's would-be powerful punch. He barely had time to dodge the second blow, and it was only his fast reflexes that allowed him to block the third.

_Damn, this guy's fast_.

His mind was working overtime trying to stem the number of blows coming his way. And just when he was about ready to give up, the slightest opening appeared. And Alex took it.

One moment, Blondie was coming towards him, fist curled and ready, and the next his head had snapped back very roughly, an audible crack shooting through the factory as Alex's elbow came into contact with his nose.

The man dropped to the ground, unconscious, blood dripping from his mutilated nose. Alex turned away with a grim look, hoping that he hadn't killed the man. Only, he was sure he'd felt the bone snap inwards. Well, either way, it was one down.

_And one to go..._

He turned just in time to see Freckles trying to lunge for a gun lying uselessly on the ground.

_Not on my watch_, Alex thought grimly, quickly glancing around.

One of the better things to result from the collapsing of the roof, is the many pieces of concrete and metal that could be used as ammunition. Like that rather large slab over there, the one that was almost the exact same shape as a soccer ball...

Alex smirked, lining the concrete 'soccer ball' up with Freckles, before doing a short run up and booting it towards him.

Okay, so the ball was _a lot_ heavier than what he was accustomed to. And, _damn_, that hurt. But nonetheless, the concrete ball soared towards its target. Freckles jerked back in time to avoid being knocked out by the heavy thing.

Unfortunately for him, Alex was already following up with plan B. And before Freckles could react, Alex was on top of the man. He lashed out, his foot connecting firmly with the man's knee. He was sure he felt something buckle, but didn't wait to find out. A knee to his stomach, and an elbow to his temple quickly followed.

And for good measure, he broke the man's nose. Again.

Freckles fell to the ground, limp, unconscious. Alex barely had time to celebrate before a soft whimper drew his attention.

He turned to see Dessi even paler than before, and almost slumped completely onto the ground. Biting his lip, he quickly rushed over.

"Dessi?"

"Alex," Dessi gasped, reaching out for his hand, "You've gotten better."

Alex flashed the girl a brief smile. "Thanks. Now, tell me what's wrong."

"My leg; it – it _burns_."

"Is it broken?"

"I sincerely hope not," Dessi said, whimpering slightly when she tried to move, "Alex, get it _off_ me."

"Sure thing; I just need you to let go of my hand," Alex said, gently freeing his hand from the girl's bruising grip. Either she was in a lot of pain, or she really hated his hand.

"Damn it, Alex!" Dessi hissed, when Alex paused for a moment to see how best to tackle the situation. "Just shove it off!"

"And do more damage?" Alex retorted. "Just be patient."

"Patience is something I don't have right now!"

"Yeah, funnily enough I figured that out for myself," Alex muttered. In the end though, he decided to just push the thing until it was far away enough to Dessi to be able to pull herself out from under it while he held it up. It was definitely too heavy for him to lift all the way.

"Ready?" Alex asked.

"Yeah," Dessi breathed.

"Okay," Alex said, gritting his teeth.

At first, nothing happened. The thick, metal reinforced concrete didn't even budge. But then, it began to slide.

Dessi winced slightly, but bit her lip and kept quiet as Alex managed to shift the slab far enough for her to drag herself out. Slowly but surely, she emerged from under the slab, until finally she was no longer under.

At which point Alex let the thing fall with a relieved sigh.

"Damn that thing's heavy," he breathed. "Alright, let's get you out of here."

With her arm slung over his shoulder, and supporting most of her weight, Alex managed to get the limping Dessi out of the fallen factory in one relative piece, though no doubt they both looked much worse for wear.

"Alex!"

"Dessi!"

"Oh, thank God you're alright!"

Ben was the first to Alex's side, followed by Snake, and together they relieved Alex of his load and carried the complaining girl to the one of the ambulances. Then Rose had run up and had pulled Alex into a tight hug.

"Do you know how _worried_ we all were?" She demanded when she let him go.

"Erm...very?" Alex offered meekly.

Rose just sighed, before pulling him into another hug, "Just don't do that again."

Alex gently disentangled himself from her grasp, before heading over to where Dessi was being given a check-up by one of the paramedics. Looking around, he frowned when he realised that there were several people missing. Quickly, he snagged the passing McGee for answers.

"Well," he began, "Matthew had a bullet wound to the leg, Shark was...kinda out-of-it, and Eagle wouldn't stop coughing, so all three were sent to the hospital. Tony, Gibbs and Wolf left as 'escorts' for the spy ring – well, the ones who made it out alive, at any rate. Um...oh, and Gibbs sent out a call for Ziva just a little while ago to interrogate the spies."

"Ah, I see," Alex said._ Always send in a spy to extract information from those trained in the art of espionage._ "So, who's in charge now?"

"Well...I'm not sure," McGee shrugged. "I'd assumed it would be Desiree, but she doesn't exactly look too well."

"Yeah..." Alex sighed, "Well, thanks for your help."

McGee smiled. "You're welcomed. Maybe you should think about getting a check up too," he added, clapping the boy on his shoulder before walking away.

There was a sudden retching sound; Alex turned in time to see the paramedic, Ben and Snake dart back away from Desiree. Biting his lip, Alex hurried over.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked.

"She's sitting right here," Dessi said, her voice very hoarse. "And honestly, _you_ try being stuck under a massive slab of concrete, and see how _your_ body takes it."

"I'm sorry sir, but I've yet to finish the check-up," the paramedic interjected, shooing Alex back a little, "So if you don't mind."

Alex rolled his eyes, before turning to Ben and Snake. "There're still two unconscious men in there, along with quite a few who are...well, not moving. So I was wondering..."

"We're on it," Snake nodded, striding away.

"I'll grab Rose too," Ben added, "I think she needs something to do."

"Thanks." Alex smiled, before turning back to the paramedic, who was having to deal with a very annoyed girl refusing point blank to go to hospital.

.


	24. The Stakeout Begins

**Chapter 24**

"Be glad we're doing a stake out, not a chase."

Desiree rolled her eyes at Gibbs's grumble. "Whatever."

"I'm being serious," Gibbs hissed, annoyed. "If it weren't for the fact that you'll be getting plenty of rest, I would've had you forcibly restrained and bundled off to the hospital."

"I repeat: whatever."

"You're impossible.

"I know," Dessi said smugly.

They were currently in a very dirty apartment, overlooking a relatively busy street. They were here on stakeout, using the information Ziva had managed to extract from the spy ring (good 'ol Ziva and her threatening ways).

After refusing point blank to be sent to the hospital, and also somehow managing to insult the paramedic while she was at it, Desiree's foot had merely been bound up, and she'd been given a firm order to remain rested and to keep her foot elevated, compressed and ice-packed to keep down inflammation and swelling.

Thankfully for all of them, it had merely been sprained, rather than broken.

And so, the moth eaten couch in the corner was officially Dessi's, who was also on twenty four hour duty, while the others were rotated around. It was rather boring, but at least her companions kept her entertained with either stories or antics. If they weren't complaining about how she should be in a hospital bed.

The badly beaten down door opened, and Snake walked in with some Chinese take-away and his usual first aid bag.

Seeing him, Gibbs got up with a sigh of relief. "Call me if anything happens."

"Will do," Snake said cheerfully. Desiree waved goodbye as Gibbs left.

"So," she said cheerfully, leaning back on the couch, "What've you been up to?"

"Eh, not much," Snake said, passing over a box of what appeared to be fried rice with prawns, "I did managed to convince Alex to go to the hospital though."

"Finally," Dessi said, rolling her eyes.

"You're one to talk."

"It's not like I needed to go."

Snake choked on his lunch, and spent the next minute trying to cough up his wayward food.

"You've got to be kidding!" He spluttered, accepting the water bottle Desiree wordlessly handed him and downing half in one go. "Out of everyone, you probably needed to go the most!"

"Hey, I am perfectly fine," Dessi objected, turning back to her lunch. "It's just a sprain, isn't it?"

"You were trapped under a slab of concrete for God-knows how long," Snake said, deadpanned, "The only reason we know about the sprain is because you can feel it. There might be tonnes of internal damage we can't pick up, simply because _you_ were too stubborn to get a check up!"

Dessi rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything else.

They finished their lunch in silence, after which Snake set about making sure all the surveillance equipment were still working and recording. Then he sat down for the wait, telling Dessi a story about a crazy kid named 'Cub' who'd rescued them from RTI training by crawling out a drainage pipe and sending the Green Jackets tumbling away.

"Stuff of legends," Snake said fondly. "There're still people regurgitating those stories at Brecon Beacons. You know, I still can't associate Cub with Alex. It's too...I dunno. Weird, I guess."

One of the monitors let off an alarming series of beeps, indicating that they should change discs or risk losing their footage. And it was while Snake set about doing that, that he heard Desiree suddenly vomit onto the ground.

Immediately, he spun and hurried over to her side.

"Dessi?" The question was there, as he felt her forehead for signs of a fever.

"I'm fine," Desiree frowned, confused. She certainly felt fine.

Snake bit his lip. "No temperature...you feeling dizzy? Dazed? Answer me; we'll clean that up in a sec."

At Desiree's shake of her head, he began to rummage around in his medic bag.

"There might have been BZ gas residue in that factory," he explained, "And I'm not taking a chance."

"Wait, what?" Dessi said, her voice growing louder with panic as Snake pulled out the thickest needle she'd ever seen. "Snake, don't you dare –"

The rest of her words were cut off with a scream as Snake injected her with the needle.

.

Alex blinked, staring up at the rundown apartment block which their stakeout was taking place. He thought he'd just heard a scream.

_Whatever. I'm probably hearing things_.

It wasn't until he'd unlocked the door and opened his mouth to let Snake know that his shift was over, that Alex realised he had indeed heard someone scream.

He watched with barely concealed amusement as Desiree threw Snake the dirtiest glare she could pull off. In turn, the SAS man was carefully disposing of an excessively large and empty needle. It was quite easy to put two and two together in this situation.

"Wipe that smile of your face, Rider!" Dessi snapped, having turned and caught sight of Alex, who immediately tired to pull his innocent look.

"Who, me?" He asked, looking around.

The girl rolled her eyes, before turning her glare back on Snake.

"Uh, yeah," Snake said, a little nervously, "I'll just be on my way..." He probably broke the world record for the fastest time someone could disappear from sight.

And then, it was just Alex and Dessi in the room. Alex crossed over to Desiree, before sitting uninvited next to her. "So, why did he just stab you?"

Dessi rolled her eyes. "He thought there was BZ gas in the factory. Apparently, he did it as a 'precaution'."

"To be honest, I didn't know you were scared of needles," Alex grinned.

"I'm not!"

"Really? Then what was that scream...?"

"That was a massive needle, Alex! You try getting stabbed by that thing and we'll see how you react!"

There was a beat of silence, before Alex whispered: "Scared." He quickly dodged out of the way of the hand that tried to whack him, before going over to check the equipment.

"So, how come you never told me about your time as Cub?" Dessi asked, shifting slightly on the couch to find a more comfortable position.

"Well, I just figured you knew," Alex said.

The unspoken meaning behind his words didn't go unheard, and Dessi cocked her head as she observed his figure. "They didn't mention much of what went on at the training camp in your file."

In her mind though, she could still hear the memory of their first fight all those years ago. _"Scorpia took away my parents, MI6 took away my life! The only thing I have left are my memories, and now thanks to you I don't have that either!"_

Right now, she was counting on the fact that Alex had been too numb to read the majority of the file..._his_ file, at the time. Even after four years, she still felt a twinge of guilt whenever she remembered that incident.

Thankfully, the boy turned around with a grin. "Well then, let me educate you on the many legends of Brecon Beacons!"

And so saying, the boy popped himself back down next to her, and began to describe to her the assault courses, high zip wires, and RTIs. Alex's retelling was infinitely more amusing than what had been described in his file...though Dessi was certain that he'd missed out some parts, and over-exaggerated others.

One thing that did come as a surprise though, was the fact that Alex had pushed Wolf out of a plane.

"You've got to be joking!" Dessi laughed. "Wolf? Scared of heights?"

"I know," Alex grinned, "But...don't tell him I said that, will you?"

"Oh, don't worry," Dessi said, resting her head on his shoulder, "I very much like you alive."

Alex smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Thanks...I think."

Unfortunately for them, that rare moment of peace and silence would not last. For a second later, having caught sight of the image on the screen, Desiree froze.

"That's him," she breathed, jerking upright. "Michaelis Menten."

"What?" Alex quickly got up, long strides taking him to the window, "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Alex spun, grabbing the headset on the table and quickly turning it on.

"Headquarters, this is Rider," Alex said into the headset. "We have eyes on our target. He is conversing with four other men...erm make that five...six...okay, now they're heading into the rundown shop opposite our location."

There was a beat of silence, before the reply:

"_Hold tight Rider, we're on our way_."

.

_Yes, I am evil to end it there. But I thought it was a good place..._

_I really wanted to give Alex and Dessi some time alone, after what I put them through last chapter..._

_Tune in next time for Ziva's revenge! I can't wait to write the next chappie!_

_Anyways, leave a __**REVEIW**__! Come on, guys, I know we can make it past 100!_

_Love Chariots99_


	25. Ziva's Revenge

I'd just like to take a moment to shout out to **Don't Worry About It**. You were the one who made me realise that I didn't remember when I'd last updated this...so well done ;) Everyone else, give this dude a medal.

EPICALLY LONG CHAPTER! DESERVES SOME **REVIEWS**! ;)

**Chapter 25**

It almost seemed like cars were pulling up in no time. One moment, it was just Alex and Desiree alone, making sure Menten didn't leave, and the next Gibbs had burst into the room, closely followed by Rose, Ben, Ziva, McGee and most of K-Unit. Matthew, Shark and Tony were all still in hospital, kept 'under observation'. Tony, who'd argued that he was perfectly fine, had been shown several X-rays that showed cleared breaks in his forearm and ribs, which had shocked him into silence.

"They still in there?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah," Alex answered, eyes not straying from the monitor, "Haven't so much as twitched. But we've counted at least three more arriving after they went in. Every single one had their guns knives removed."

"Of course; they would not want a fight to break out in case of a disagreement," Ziva said, to which Alex agreed.

"There's something there that they want then," Gibbs muttered. "Something that involves negotiations."

"So what do we do?" Desiree asked. She'd somehow managed to hobble over without anyone noticing.

Gibbs did nothing more than spare her a glare. "Spread out, cover the area. They're going to have to come out sooner or later."

"I'm going to go with later," Alex said.

They split off into groups; Wolf, Snake and Eagle stuck together, while Ziva, Gibbs and Alex decided they wanted first go at Menten and had thus chosen to hide just across the road, behind a barricade of dumpsters. Ben and Rose accepted McGee and Desiree into their group, promising to hold the girl back and ignoring her protests.

"Thirteen men and counting," Ziva muttered.

"Ready for a little revenge?" Alex asked.

Ziva flashed him a smirk. "Trust me; those men will not see it coming."

Gibbs hushed them with a hissed, "_Focus_."

Anticipation filled the air. It was so close..._they_ were so close. If they could catch Menten, then this would be it. Mission over. The end.

Alex let out a shaky sigh, causing Ziva to glance at him questioningly. He shook his head, returning his attention back to the building just in time to see the doors open and one man to step out.

At once, Ziva shot forwards, stunning both Gibbs and Alex with her speed.

"_They're out! They're out!_" Gibbs shouted into his mic, as Alex recovered and quickly followed her. Not that he was needed.

Ziva reached the first man before he could blink. Her elbow met his nose with an audible _crunch_, and before he collapsed all the way, she knocked him out with a blow to the temple. He crumpled down, and stayed down.

The Mossad agent turned to face the next man to exit just as Alex reached her. She grinned, before surging forwards and tripping the guy over. He went lurching in Alex's direction, who just rolled his eyes and knocked him out with.

By now, passer-bys, people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, had figured out that a fight was imminent. There was a lot of screaming, as they pushed and shoved and basically cleared the area of any innocent victims.

"We're about to lose the advantage of surprise," Alex shouted.

"I know!" Ziva said, before grabbing two long metal pipes off the ground. "Here," she said, tossing one to Alex. "Got my back?"

Alex grinned. "You know it."

And then, the street was filled with men, all looking grimly at the two. They moved to form a loose circle around the two spies, cracking their knuckles and making faces which they obviously perceived to be threatening, but which (in Alex's opinion) made them look like they had gas pain. Ziva obviously had the same conclusion, for she snorted rather loudly.

Dimly in his mind, Alex registered other fights already breaking out, with K-Unit taking on probably too much, but still valiantly holding in there.

It was really a good thing that none of these guys had guns.

Ziva shouted something, and that seemed to break the stillness. Suddenly, five men lunged forwards, eyes wild and angry.

Alex and Ziva ducked under each other, having both picked out different targets. Alex twirled his pipe through the air, before lashing out sideways. There was a resounding _clang_ when metal hit back-of-neck, and the man collapsed.

Someone was trying to sneak up on Alex. _Idiot_, he thought, tucking the pipe under his arm and driving it backwards. A yell of pain told him that he'd hit his target. Pivoting around, he brought the pipe up and down. The man stopped moving.

"Alex!" Ziva shouted. Alex spun, catching the end of the pipe she'd thrust at him, and holding his own out for her. Together, they spun the two ends, and succeeded in tripping two men over each other. Grimly, Alex brought his pipe down to knock them out.

He looked back up in time to find Ziva facing off against two men, and holding her own very well. Unfortunately she didn't see the third creeping up very stealthily, as she knocked down the first, then the second man.

"Duck!" Alex roared, a thick piece of cement, roughly the size of a cricket ball, somehow finding its way into his hand.

Ziva dropped down at once, and Alex flung the piece of cement through the air. His aim was true, and the next moment the man who'd tried to sneak up on Ziva had dropped to the floor, knocked out cold. He was going to develop one _hell _of a bruise.

"Thanks!" Ziva shouted, springing back to her feet and whipping her pipe around to meet someone's skull.

"Don't mention it!" Alex yelled back, ducking a punch and retaliating by a jabbing blow to the man's stomach.

Gunshots suddenly went off. Once. Twice. A third time.

Alex jerked back from the man who'd been about to tackle him, as his dead weight fell to the ground. Looking around, he saw the tip of Gibb's gun peeking out from over the dumpster, and grinned.

Man, that guy _really_ knows how to shoot. And it was nice to know that he was on Alex's side.

Looking around, he saw K-Unit running into a spot of trouble. He was about to rush over and help when Ben Daniels suddenly appeared, taking down a man with a mixed routine of SAS and MI6 skills. Nice.

And then Rose entered the fray, obviously not pleased at being left behind. She tackled a man who was about to knock Snake out with a slab of concrete, and proceeded to knock him out instead.

He didn't know what made him do it. Later, when he looked back on that moment, he would never figure it out.

But at that moment, in the middle of the many fights, Alex suddenly got it in his mind to observe the fight. And the thing that caught his attention made his world come to a spinning halt.

A girl, with short, dyed brown hair, and blonde roots already showing, was facing off against Michaelis Menten. They were talking...well, okay, more like shouting, or threatening. But there was no fighting.

And then Alex looked closer, and saw the gun tucked firmly against Dessi's side, held by Menten's associate. And Dessi can't move because she's injured.

Cursing the girl and her blatant stubbornness in every language that he knew, Alex forced himself to move. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gibbs following him, and smiled grimly. At least he would have backup.

"...wasn't me that pulled the trigger on him, at least I'll have the satisfaction of killing you."

And before Alex could close in, a thick needle replaces the gun. Desiree gives a shout of surprise as the needle was jabbed into her side, hard, by the associate.

_Bang_.

The associate screamed in pain, stumbling back and clutching his profusely bleeding arm. Alex can see that Gibbs has almost managed to rip the entire thing off with his bullet. Menten's associate is definitely going to lose that arm, if he didn't die first.

But then Dessi had collapsed to the ground, and before Alex can give chase Menten had shoved his associate down a side alley.

There was a screech of tires, and even before Alex went to look, he knew that it would be too late.

He hurried back to Gibbs, who was crouched down next to Desiree.

"What happened?" Alex breathed, staring at the girl who had started to gently convulse.

Gibbs showed him the needle that had still been in her side. "Three guesses as to what's in here," he said grimly.

Alex groaned. "Don't tell me."

.

The fight hadn't lasted long after Menten bailed. All in all, they'd apprehended twelve men alive. Three had died on the scene. Two others hadn't made it to treatment in time.

But Alex didn't know any of that. He was currently sitting in the waiting room of Homeland Hospital, with Rose's arm hugging his shoulders. Eagle was there too, having been fixed up for a very deep scratch. He was now showing his seven stitches to anyone who would pay him attention.

"Alex?"

Alex looked up, and smiled tiredly at the group who'd just entered.

"Hey Ben," he said.

"Ben! Look at my stitches!" Eagle said excitedly, shoving his arm under Ben's nose.

"Very nice," Ben said distractedly, "So, any information? On any of them?"

Alex shook his head.

Aside from Desiree, who was currently undergoing intensive treatment, a couple others had been hospitalised too. During the fight, Ziva had managed to re-sprain her ankle, though the doctors had given up and had said that they'd just bandage her foot and let her limp around for a bit. McGee had been knocked around a lot, despite having been told to stay out of the fighting. He was being treated for possible concussion. Wolf had somehow gotten the bones in his third finger crushed; he was still in surgery.

But thankfully, they weren't going to lose anyone because of their injuries.

"Snake! Look at my stitches!"

"I think it's a good thing he's not doing that to Gibbs," Rose whispered.

"Can you imagine if he did?" Alex asked.

Slowly, the injured were allowed to trickle back into the waiting room. Ziva joined them first, giving them all a bright smile before evicting Snake from his chair. McGee came next, rolling his eyes and muttering about being on surveillance to make sure he didn't sleep. Sure enough, they spied a scared looking intern keeping a very close eye on the agitated man. Tony rejoined them, arm in a cast and relaying wild and exaggerated stories.

"Excuse me? Are you – are you all here for Miss Swan?"

Alex looked up to see the highly confused looking doctor. "Yeah, we are."

"Okay then..." the doctor frowned, taking in the huge crowd. He was obviously disbelieving, but before he could do anything, another doctor ran up to him and whispered something in his ear. "Oh, right," he said, before turning to the gathering. "Okay, follow me please. Miss Swan is very anxious to see you all."

"How is she?" Rose asked as they walked along, following the doctor and his fast pace.

"Perfectly fine – ah, here she is."

They were ushered into a reasonably large room. Desiree sat on the bed, looking bored as hell, an IV drip attached to her arm. She brightened instantly when she spotted the group.

"Alex!" She grinned.

"How're you feeling?" Alex asked, a little concerned at her behaviour."

"I'm perfectly fine!" She giggled.

"We gave her pain relievers," the doctor said, glancing at the still giggling girl, "It has different effects on different people. But overall, she's perfectly fine. The BZ didn't affect her or her child enough for permanent damage to occur. We'll still keep her in hospital for a while, just in case, however at this stage I think we can safely assume that she'll make a full recovery."

"That's good," Alex smiled relieved. Around the room, similar expressions graced the large group's faces. Only Ziva's held a frown.

"What do you mean, 'child'?"

.

_DON'T KILL ME! Runs and hides._

_Okay, I had a massive amount of people tell me that if she was pregnant, I would die. But please read my EXPLANATION! So, I was a little confused at the strong reaction people had to this idea. Then I went and read a fic like it...yeah, now I understand._

_HOWEVER, this is actually part of a much BIGGER PLOT! It's something that's needed for the sequel, so it had to happen. I'm really sorry if I've offended anyone, or made someone really hate this. All I can say is sorry, and that this will not turn out to be a story where Alex marries an OC, has a kid and lives happily ever after. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!_

_I sincerely hope that I haven't put you guys off reading this. I'm actually really excited for the sequel, because it's definitely going to...oh, I don't want to give anything away! But, we're so close now...I'm so excited!_

_But yeah, __please __**REVIEW**____and let me know what you think of this. And please try not to flame (I get the feeling that after this, a lot of you guys will want to...all I can do is apologise once more)._

_Thankyou so much for reading,_

_Love Chariots99_


	26. Gregory Alex Rider

_I'm gonna to speed up time! Let's do this!_

_Note: for the purposes of this fic, Vegemite exists only in Australia...I don't actually know if it's exported to other countries though..._

**Chapter 26**

The next nine months passed absurdly fast.

After the initial shock about Dessi's pregnancy had worn off, the excitement had kicked in. Particularly in the cases of Rose and Ziva, who couldn't go an hour without squealing. They decided that it must've been a girl thing.

K-Unit had gotten out of there pretty fast. Well, it had been mission complete – the spy ring had been officially disassembled and stomped out of existence. They were no longer needed. Last anyone heard, it was possible that K-Unit were headed for Iraq.

Ben was recalled. He left with a smile, a wave, Alex's letter of temporary resignation, and a promise of help if ever needed.

Matthew was next to leave. He'd taken the news of his crush being knocked up pretty well, all things considering (though Alex was quite sure he'd never be friends with the boy again...even if he wanted to). He took with him Dessi's own letter of temporary resignation and an accompanying explanation, along with a debriefing of the entire mission. In other words, enough pages to for a small book to be published.

Rose left too, though she fought tooth and nail to stay. But she lost, so she unhappily boarded the flight home, though not before extracting a promise for weekly updates.

With the mission officially over, MI6 had cut the funding for the small rooms they'd been living in. And so, Alex and Dessi had moved in with Ziva, who'd literally forced them to her apartment ("Stay as long as you need," she'd told them excitedly, "Preferably until after the baby is born").

Tony and McGee were caught in the middle. On one hand, they were excited for the baby. On the other...there was going to be a bloody _baby_. Which meant changing diapers, and screaming, and babysitting duties...

"Dessi? Can I ask you a question?"

Desiree looked up from her position on the bed. "Yeah?"

"How come...well...didn't you know that you were pregnant?" Alex asked, sitting down next to her.

Desiree snorted. "Yeah, that's why I was definitely _not_ in shock."

Alex laughed at the girl's sarcasm, before pulling her into a hug. "Doesn't matter. I'm glad you chose to keep it."

"At moments like this, so am I."

Unfortunately, no-one ever thought to warn the two spies about the horrible moments of pregnancy. It all started with the baby bump...

Alex was woken up that morning with a horrified shriek. Startled, he bolted upright and grabbed the nearest thing that could pass off as a weapon, before spinning around. However, instead of finding an intruder, he found Desiree staring down at herself, horrified.

"Des? You alright?" Alex asked hesitantly, putting the scissors down.

She looked up, crystal blue eyes wide.

"I can _see_ it," she whispered, horrified.

It wasn't the best idea Alex ever had to let the girl know that she looked no different. It ended with Ziva bursting in and having to save Alex from the pregnant girl trying to strangle him.

After a few weeks though, even Alex could see the baby bump slowly forming. The sight filled him with a mixture of dread and excitement. In short, the boy was full of nerves. So much so, that Gibbs came over one afternoon and sat the boy down for a very fatherly talk.

"That child is going to depend on you for everything. Food, shelter, love. You need to make sure that you're alright with this," Gibbs had started off. "And even if you're not, _convince yourself that you are._"

So yeah, he'd learnt that Gibbs's inspirational speeches were great...if not a bit intimidating.

Ziva started coming home every day with an assortment of baby items; cribs, clothing, toys. She'd decorated the spare room with them, causing Desiree to burst into tears and give the woman a tight hug.

Yes, the hormones had also kicked in.

In all the excitement, Alex forgot about his friends back at home. Until one day, he received a very unexpected phone call.

"_Alex?_"

"Rose?" Alex asked incredulously.

"_Yep! How're you – no, okay, I'll talk to you later. I've got someone here who really wants to talk to you...erm, it might be best if you covered your ears."_

Before Alex could ask what she meant, the phone had been passed over. And suddenly, his eardrums were filled with a high pitched, and very loud, squeal.

"_Alex! I can't believe you didn't even think about telling us!"_

"Er...hi, Jack. How're you?"

"_Never mind me, how're you? How's the baby? How long until she gives birth?"_

After that interrogation, Alex promised to give Jack weekly updates too. And then of course, there was Tom.

"_Dude, how come you never mentioned this before you left?"_

"How was I supposed to know?"

"_Oh right...good point. Well, I suppose I should congratulate you on knocking her up. You should have seen Detention! Chucked a right spaz, according to Ben. Year Coordinator was apparently clearing all the Bullies from the floor to give him some privacy."_

"What on _earth_ are you talking about?" Alex asked, confused. But the names sounded oddly familiar somehow.

Oh wait...the code.

"I can't believe you still remember it!"

"_What are friends for?_" Alex could almost hear the grin in Tom's voice. "_Anyway, tell Dessi I said 'hi'. And Jack says to make sure she doesn't overexert herself. She's reading all these baby books...it's getting kinda weird..."_

And then, the cravings kicked in. They started off relatively tame, like chocolate coated tuna, and spinach with honey and pepper. And then...

"Alex?"

"Hey Des, how're you feeling?" Alex asked, looking up from the case Gibbs's team were working on (he'd been assigned as a temporary liaison, until Dessi gave birth anyway).

"I...I want something to eat," Dessi said, sitting down next to him.

"Yeah? Tell me, I'll go get it for you."

"I want Vegemite," she said, turning those crystal blue eyes on him.

"Erm...what?" Alex asked, baffled.

"Vegemite! You know!"

No, Alex did not know. Not even Ziva knew, when she came home. Neither did Tony, who'd tagged along with her. They ended up phoning Gibbs, who'd started laughing at them and refusing to answer.

It was a good thing that particular craving passed. And didn't come back.

But by far the worst one was when Desiree turned to him and asked for chalk. That was when he put his foot down.

The of course, there were the baby names. Dessi hadn't wanted to know the gender, and to be fair Alex hadn't either. However, it did make the naming thing a tad hard, since they had to think up twice the amount of names.

"Okay, if it's a girl, how about Linda?" Alex asked.

Dessi wrinkled her nose, "I don't really like Linda."

"Alisha?"

"Had a bad experience with an 'Alisha' trying to kill me."

"Brenda?"

"Maybe..."

"We're not going to get anywhere, are we?"

"No," Desiree laughed, "I don't think so."

There was one thing Alex noticed about Dessi throughout her pregnancy. And that was that she started laughing more now. It reminded him a bit of the hyper, over-excited girl he'd first met all those years ago.

"I vote we just wing it," Alex said, "When the baby comes out."

"Okay."

And then of course, came that inevitable day nine months later, when Desiree suddenly froze on her way to lunch, and turned her wide eyes on him.

"Alex? I...I think my water just broke..."

.

Two hours into labour, and still no sign of the baby. At Desiree's insistence, Alex had been forced to wait outside. He wasn't sure why; it wasn't like he'd never seen blood before.

"Alex!"

He looked up to see Ziva rushing towards him. "Why are you outside? What happened?"

Alex shrugged. "Got kicked out. And...I'm not sure. Why are you here?"

"Gibbs said you could use some support. And, well, I did not think you wanted Tony or McGee here," Ziva said, smiling wryly.

"Thanks."

They sat in silence, for what seemed like an eternity, before the door finally opened.

"Alex Rider?"

Alex stood up with a jolt. "Yes?"

The doctor smiled. "Congratulations. It's a healthy baby boy."

And Alex broke out into a grin, with Ziva pulling him into a hug before pushing him into the room.

Desiree lay on the bed, looking tired as hell. Her hair, which had grown long during the nine months, was matted with sweat. Despite all that, she looked rather pleased with herself, and kept cooing at the bundle in her arms.

When Alex looked closer, his breath caught in his throat.

"Is that..." he whispered, awed.

Dessi looked up with a smile. "Yeah."

"Wow. He's so...small."

She laughed. "I know."

Their little boy was asleep, fists tightly curled, snuggled against Desiree.

"D'you want to hold him?" She asked.

Alex just smiled, reaching out and accepting the precious bundle. "He's...so..."

"Beautiful? Gorgeous? Adorable?" Desiree supplied, yawning.

"All of the above," Alex said. "Gregory."

"Hm?"

"I think...I think he's a Gregory."

Desiree blinked. "I think you're right. Gregory. Gregory Alex Rider."

"Wait, what?" Alex looked up, startled to hear his name.

"I like it," Dessi smiled. "I think it fits."

Before Alex could reply, not that he really could with his throat clogged up the way that it was, Desiree leaned back and closed her eyes. She was asleep within seconds, her soft breathing filling the room.

Alex looked down at the little boy, _his_ little boy, cuddled within his arms. "Gregory Alex Rider. I like it too."

The baby made a soft noise, almost like he was in agreement.

"Gregory it is," Alex laughed. He drank in the small features of the newly named Gregory, everything from the curled fingers to the tuft of blonde hair on his head.

"I hope you have your mother's eyes," Alex whispered, pressing a kiss to Gregory's forehead.

.

_Stay tuned for the next chapter! It's going to be the last one... *sob*_

_Love Chariots99_


	27. Jake's Last Legacy

This is the end! *Sob* *sob*...don't worry though, 'cause there's a sequel! Or...fivequel...hm...yeah...longest series ever?

I'd just like to take a moment to thank each and every one of my wonderful **reviewers**. Without your support, I don't know where I'd be. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart. And thank you, for sticking with me for so long :)

I must say, that this has been a long time coming. You'll see why, but I'll give you a hint – I've had to keep my mouth shut about Jake's death for a story and a half! And of course, I couldn't end it without one final Alex fight...

**Chapter 27**

The three of them were in Australia.

Weird? Alex thought so. But Desiree had decided to officially resign from the AIS, so Alex came along to give her some additional support. And little Gregory, who was now two months old and who had definitely inherited his mother's eyes, had to come along for obvious reasons.

.

Desiree looked around the familiar campus of the AIS, breathing in the fresh air as she made her way to the ISB. She had left Alex and Gregory back at the rented home, feeling that this was something she had to do herself. Luckily, Alex understood.

She had just handed in her letter of resignation. The Director took things rather well, considering that he'd now lost the entirety of his best unit. Though there was a spark of emotion in his eyes that she didn't find particularly soothing.

There were a few things Dessi had to take care of first, before she officially left. The first was to say her final goodbyes, especially to Matthew, whom she felt she owed an explanation. The other, was to clear out her desk...the one she had never used. So she was a little bit worried as to how bad it would look.

Several passing agents gave her strange looks as she entered the ISB, obviously not expecting to see her around. She just smiled back, making her way upstairs to the offices. Her own one was in the furthest corner of the floor, probably because the Director had known that she'd never use it.

It took her several seconds to let herself into the room; the finger-print scanner was obviously not used to her presence. When she did manage to get the door opened, her jaw dropped in horror.

"Oh buggering heck," Desiree muttered, staring at the...well, unable-to-be-seen desk that was no doubt close to collapsing due to the sheer amount of paperwork piled on top. "Maybe I should've checked in a little more."

This was going to take her a while.

With a sigh, she began to clear the files, important looking sheafs of paper, and goodness knows what else, off her table. However, almost as soon as she started, one of the files slipped off the table, hitting two more on the way down, which each hit three others as they slid down the paperous mountain.

Which ended with everything that had been on the table settling on the floor instead.

"Eff my life," Dessi groaned, sinking to the ground.

It was as she began to clear the files that she spied the letter, buried amongst the mess.

She recognised the messy scrawl almost immediately, and she froze.

"Jake..."

_Hey Des,_

_Bet this is the last thing you'd expect to find, eh? Really though, you need to start clearing out this table. I can hardly find a spot to write this._

_Well, if you're reading this then I'm probably dead, since that'll be the only reason you have of ever visiting your office – and trust me when I say this, unit leaders get way too much paperwork to do, especially if they have to cover for their partners too (cough, you, cough). And I'm pretty sure they'll have made you unit leader. But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong._

_If I've actually just resigned, could you do me a favour and knock some sense into me? Oh, and stop reading this. Thanks. _

_Anyway, going on the "I am dead" thing, there're a couple of things I have to tell you._

_The first would be that...well...I love you. I know I told you that a few days ago, but I just...just really wanted to get it out. And, even if you don't accept it, just know that I'll always be there to protect you._

_Which leads me onto my second point._

_I don't know if you know this, but for the past...three years, I believe, I've been working on a little side investigating, one which the AIS doesn't know about. It all started with that mission..._

.

Gregory was laughing. It was honestly the most contagious sound in the world.

"You're so cute," Alex grinned, bouncing the bubbly boy on his knee. "I can't believe you're so big! Seems like just yesterday..."

Gregory giggled, causing Alex to laugh.

The little boy had yet to give Alex and Desiree any trouble. He was perhaps the most well behaved thing in the entire world. He slept when it was dark, woke when it was bright, hardly ever cried...

They'd been in Australia for a few days now. The neighbours had been so welcoming of the young family. And they absolutely doted on little Gregory Rider.

It would be a pity when they left. But they'd both agreed that since Alex was the only one with a family, even if it they weren't blood-related, it would be best to move to England until they figured out what to do.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Alex asked, hoisting Gregory through the air. "Or a stroll outside?"

Little Gregory just yawned, closed his eyes, and rested his head against Alex's shoulder.

"Or, a sleep," Alex smiled, carrying his little boy upstairs to his temporary bedroom. "Sweet dreams."

.

..._and I doubt we're the only ones. I'm sure MI5, MI6, heck, even the Mossad are in on this. Probably even the CIA, but I'm not sure about the FBI. But...just be careful, 'kay? And please, don't do anything stupid like confront them until you have the evidence._

_Watch your back, Des. I can't protect you anymore._

_Forever yours,_

_Jacob Wood. _

Desiree swallowed heavily, her blood running cold.

She felt...numb.

Frozen.

It was almost incomprehensible, the things Jake had written, the secret he had just told, but the evidence was there. Nothing solid, just whispers, but it was enough for things to click into place.

"I can't believe they'd do this," she breathed, re-reading the letter again, and again. The words almost engrained themselves into her eyes.

There was a heavy weight on her shoulders, the weight of the world. She held in her hand what was perhaps the deadliest secret of the espionage world. And suddenly, she had become the hunted.

With quick fingers, she shredded the letter into a thousand pieces. Some she scattered around her room, others out the window for the wind to blow away. A few pieces were swallowed. It wouldn't do for anyone to know that she was now onto them.

Heavy footsteps made her pause.

They were closing in on her. Coming for her. Somehow, this was something she knew with great certainty.

_How did they know?_ She thought, panicked. There was no way she could escape. The window...no, she wouldn't survive that jump.

The bad thing about having the corner office...you get cornered.

.

The Director had known.

The Director had _always _known.

Despite Jake sneaking around, trying not to get caught, the Director had known the entire time that the boy was onto them. At first, he'd found it amusing. Then, when the boy had actually managed to find out the truth, he'd been shocked.

The only solution? Jake had to be eliminated.

Dead people couldn't talk.

One of the most stressed rules in the espionage world was to never let the enemy know of your weaknesses. Unfortunately for the boy, he'd never known that his own Director was the enemy until it was too late.

After all, Jake's one weakness had always been his partner, the girl. Desiree Swan. It was so easy to set up, to make sure that the boy was left with no choice but to willingly walk towards death, that the Director had been watching his back, convinced that it hadn't worked. But it had; he'd seen Jake's mutilated body for himself.

Jake's last mission...had been a suicide mission.

He was supposed to die.

And the girl. She had needed to be out of the picture. It seemed almost like fate had stepped in when the Mossad had contacted him about the final spy ring. They shipped Desiree of to the US. Everything was fine. He could breathe.

But he never expected that meddling boy to write the letter. Never saw it coming. And now, he was paying for it.

They couldn't kill the girl on AIS grounds. Not now. She had a child, and someone who would notice her absence. Someone with very important connections.

But they couldn't just let her go. Not now, that she knew. And so, he'd sent men to capture her, planning to keep the girl captive until he figured out a plan.

The Director was very surprised when he learnt that fate had again stepped in and solved his problem for him once more.

.

The door burst open just as Alex was coming down the stairs. Immediately, he threw himself over the railing and crouched down behind the stairs, just as a withering hail of bullets passed over his head.

_Who on earth had a grudge against him in Australia?_

"Alex!" A sing-song voice echoed, "Come out Alex!"

Alex bit his lip. Gregory was upstairs, somehow managing to have slept through that first wave. That was probably the only thing keeping him safe. He wasn't sure if his son would sleep through another hail of bullets like that.

_Right, it's going to have to be a fast takedown then._

The intruders made that relatively easy for him. One of them had already been stalking towards his hiding spot, gun loose at his side. Alex smirked, before diving out and catching the man unawares.

Alex grabbed the man's wrist, bringing it around and slamming it into the staircase railing. The man howled, and let the gun go. He was then promptly knocked out and pushed aside.

The next man came at him, gunless. Alex took him out with a shot to the knee, then pistol-whipped him. He collapsed, still.

Two others jumped for him. Dodging, ducking, weaving in and out. He shot one man in the foot, and while he was jumping around in pain, Alex grabbed a picture frame off the wall (inwardly muttering an apology to the people who owned the house), and smashed the frame over the man's head. He fell in a hail of shattered glass, and didn't get backup.

The other man Alex just knocked out with a blow to the temple. Seriously, these people have _got _to learn to keep their guards up. Not that he was complaining or anything.

Alex heard the click, and instinctively brought the gun in his hand up to meet its brother. Neither shot. They were both waiting. Waiting for some unspoken signal.

It was only when Alex turned to face the man pointing a gun at him that he recognised him. And his blood ran cold.

The man had only one arm. The other ended at his elbow.

_A gun, pressed against Desiree's side...replaced by a needle...Desiree falling, collapsing..._

_Gunshots. Gibbs...he'd fired, and almost ripped off a man's arm...who'd disappeared in a screech of tires with..._

Alex closed his eyes, sensing movement behind him. "Menten."

Michaelis Menten chuckled. "Very good Alex. You know you're gun only has one bullet left though, right?"

Menten's one-armed associate cocked his gun threateningly.

"How did you find me?"

"Oh it was simple," Menten said. He moved up behind Alex, breathing into his ear. "You spies always think you're the best. Yet the trail that you leave...oh so obvious."

There was a sharp pain as Menten shoved a gun against Alex's ribs. He didn't wince, didn't change his expression.

"What do you want?" He asked, never letting his gun waver from the associate.

"Alas, there I many thing which I want. All the worldly possessions," Menten sighed. "But right now, you."

As if that were some trigger, Alex suddenly moved. He fired the last bullet before the associate could get a shot off, then spun, trying to dislodge Menten.

But he wasn't fast enough.

There was a sharp pain against his head; the next moment, he was on his knees, his arms having been wrenched painfully upwards.

"Nice try Alex," Menten whispered into his ear, barely glancing at the man Alex had just shot and, no doubt, killed. "Too bad that wasn't enough. Now say goodnight..."

The last thing that registered in Alex's mind was the door bursting open once more, several more men who were no doubt also in league with Menten filing in, before someone shoved a piece of black cloth against his nose and mouth.

_Thank God Gregory kept quiet..._

It all went black.

.

The human mind is absolutely amazing. So small, and yet, so very complex. From these minds came the ideas of geniuses. Technology. Electricity. Shaping the world as we know today.

And yet, the most fundamental operation of the brain is to ensure its body's survival.

The most basic instincts performed by all animals are to hunt, sleep and procreate. In short, to make certain that the body had the best chance of survival possible.

And so, when units three and four of the AIS burst into Desiree's office, ready to take her down by whatever means necessary, her brain weighed up the odds and quickly came to the conclusion that there was no way she could fight and live. And she had to live; she was the last keeper of the secret. So, her brain did the one thing it could to protect itself.

It fragmented.

Cracked, into a million pieces. Scattering the secret away into the corners of her mind, dispersed like the letter that had been Jake's last legacy. And with the secrets, went her memories. Faces disappeared, places, names. Gone. Hidden amongst the darkest crevices, buried in the deepest holes of her mind.

Essentially, her mind became a puzzle. And until the pieces were refitted, the final picture would be lost forever. The secret was safe, protected.

Under the sudden strain, Desiree's body could not cope. And so, it did the one thing it could to protect itself.

It shut down.

And Desiree collapsed in a dead faint.

Later that afternoon, she was admitted into the psychiatric ward at the local hospital, unable to remember anything. Not even her own name.

.

Several panicked phone calls were made to 000, telling the police about the gunshots. Half an hour later, the police arrived in a blaze of sirens. But they were half an hour too late.

The only thing they found was a baby boy, whom the neighbours identified as Gregory Rider, the son of the very nice couple in their early twenties. No, the house wasn't theirs; they were merely renting it. No, the two didn't show any signs of being at all related to the mobs that were known to pass through the area. They were just a regular couple, though perhaps a tad too young.

Frantic calls were made, and a search party began to comb the country for the missing parents.

The search would last two weeks, before some higher authorities officially called it off and declared the trail 'cold'. The case was closed and marked as '_unsolved_', the detectives highly confused as to why the case had been called off, but having no power to question the 'higher-ups'.

And little Gregory Rider would be sent off to the local orphanage, alone.

.

_To Be Continued..._


	28. In case you were unaware

**_In case you were unaware..._**

The sequel to this has already been posted. It's titled "In the Name of Love", and it's probably going to be the last one in the series...I think.

Anyway, go check it out! Oh, and while you're at it, remember to vote for your fav title for this AR series!

Love you all!

Chariots99**  
**


End file.
